The isotope effect on impurities and bulk ion particle transport in the Large Helical Device

Abstract

The isotope effect on impurities and bulk ion particle transport is investigated by using the deuterium, hydrogen, and isotope mixture plasma in the Large Helical Device (LHD). A clear isotope effect is observed in the impurity transport but not the bulk ion transport. The isotope effects on impurity transport and ion heat transport are observed as a primary and a secondary effect, respectively, in the plasma with an internal transport barrier (ITB). In the LHD, an ion ITB is always transient because the impurity hole triggered by the increase of ion temperature gradient causes the enhancement of ion heat transport and gradually terminates the ion ITB. The formation of an impurity hole becomes slower in the deuterium (D) plasma than the hydrogen (H) plasma. This primary isotope effect on impurity transport contributes the longer sustainment of the ion ITB state because the low ion thermal diffusivity can be sustained as long as the normalized carbon impurity gradient R/Ln,c, where , is above the critical value (∼−5). Therefore, the longer sustainment of the ITB state in the deuterium plasma is considered to be a secondary isotope effect due to the mitigation of the impurity hole. The radial profile of H and D ion density is measured using bulk charge exchange spectroscopy inside the isotope mixture plasma. The decay time of H ion density after the H-pellet injection and the decay time of D ion density after D-pellet injection are almost identical, which demonstrates that there is no significant isotope effect on ion particle transport.