Gamma ray measurements during deuterium and 3He discharges on TFTR

Abstract

Gamma ray count rates and energy spectra have been measured in TFTR deuterium plasmas during ohmic heating and during injection of deuterium neutral beams for total neutron source strengths up to 6 × 10 15 neutrons per second. The gamma ray measurements for the deuterium plasmas are in general agreement with predictions obtained using simplified transport models. The 16.6 MeV fusion gamma ray from the direct capture reaction D( 3He, γ) 5Li was observed during deuterium neutral beam injection into 3He plasmas for beam powers up to 7 MW. The measured yield of the 16.6 MeV gamma ray is consistent with the predicted yield. The observation of this capture gamma ray establishes the spectroscopy of the fusion gamma rays from the D- 3He reactions as a viable diagnostic of total fusion reaction rates and benchmarks the modeling for extension of the technique to D-T plasmas.