Fast electron bremsstrahlung in axisymmetric magnetic configuration

Abstract

The nonthermal bremsstrahlung is calculated in a plasma with arbitrary axisymmetric magnetic configuration, taking into account the relativistic angular anisotropy of the radiation cross section at high photon energies, the helical winding of the field lines on the magnetic flux surfaces, and the poloidal variation of the electron distribution function including particle trapping effects. The fast electron dynamics during current drive in tokamaks and reverse field pinches can be investigated in detail by coupling this calculation to a bounce-averaged relativistic Fokker–Planck solver, which calculates the electron distribution function. The asymmetry between high- and low-field side hard x-ray emission intensity that has been measured on the Tore-Supra tokamak [Equipe TORE SUPRA, in Proceedings of the 15th Conference on Plasma Physics and Controlled Nuclear Fusion Research, Seville (International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, 1995) Vol. 1, IAEA-CN-60/A1-5 (Institute of Physics, Bristol, U.K., 1995), p. 105] is explained for the first time by the role of trapped electrons. A much stronger poloidal asymmetry is predicted for the line-integrated fast electron bremsstrahlung in the poloidal plane of the Madison Symmetric Torus [R. N. Dexter et al., Fusion Tech. 19, 131 (1991)], since the helical winding of the magnetic field lines is much larger for a reverse field pinch configuration. In this case, the hard x-ray emission is no longer a flux surface quantity, which prevents local reconstructions using a standard Abel inversion, whatever the geometrical arrangement of the lines of sight.