First Evidence of Collective Alpha Particle Effect on TAE Modes in the TVTR D-T Experiment
Author: K.L. Wong, G. Schmidt, S.H. Batha, R. Bell, Z. Chang, L. Chen, D.S. Darrow, H.H. Duong, G.Y. Fu, G.W. Hammett, F. Levinton, R. Majeski, E. Mazzucato, R. Nazikian, D.K. Owens, M. Petrov, J.H. Rogers, G. Schilling, and J.R. Wilson
The alpha particle effect on the excitation of toroidal Alfvén eigenmodes (TAE) was investigated in deuterium-tritium (d-t) plasmas in the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR). RF power was used to position the plasma near the instabiilty threshold, and the alpha particle effect was inferred from the reduction of RF power threshold for TAE instability in d-t plasmas. Initial calculations indicate that the alpha particles contribute 10-30% of the total drive in a d-t plasma with 3 MW of peak fusion power.