Physics of High Performance Deuterium-tritium Plasmas in TFTR
Authors: K.M. Mcguire, C.W. Barnes, S. Batha, et al.
During the past two years, deuterium-tritium (D-T) plasmas in the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) have been used to study fusion power production, isotope effects associated with tritium fueling, and alpha-particle physics in several operational regimes. The peak fusion power has been increased to 10.7 MW in the supershot mode through the use of increased plasma current and toroidal magnetic field and extensive lithium wall conditioning. The high-internal-inductance (high -li) regime in TFTR has been extended in plasma current and has achieved 8.7 MW of fusion power. Studies of the effects of tritium on confinement have now been carried out in ohmic, NBI- and ICRF- heated L-mode and reversed-shear plasmas. In general, there is an enhancement in confinement time in D-T plasmas which is most pronounced in supershot and high-li discharges, weaker in L-mode plasmas with NBI and ICRF heating and smaller still in ohmic plasmas. In reversed-shear discharges with sufficient deuterium-NBI heating power, internal transport barriers have been observed to form, leading to enhanced confinement. Large decreases in the ion heat conductivity and particle transport are inferred within the transport barrier. It appears that higher heating power is required to trigger the formation of a transport barrier with D-T NBI and the isotope effect on energy confinement is nearly absent in these enhanced reverse-shear plasmas. Many alpha-particle physics issues have been studied in the various operating regimes including confinement of the alpha particles, their redistribution by sawteeth, and their loss due to MHD instabilities with low toroidal mode numbers. In weak-shear plasmas, alpha-particle destabilization of a toroidal Alfv n eigenmode has been observed.