Alpha-particle-driven instability of alfven waves in a tandem mirror. Final summary report, 21 February-20 May 1985

Technical Report · Tue Aug 20 00:00:00 EDT 1985

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5086724· OSTI ID:5086724

Ho, S K

Alpha particles born at D-T fusion are mirror confined in the tandem mirror due to their relatively high energy. Therefore, they have a loss-cone type distribution in the velocity space. This anisotropy is susceptible to microinstability. The objective of this work is to study the possible instability that can be driven by the alpha loss-cone. The low frequency (at the order of the ion cyclotron frequency) wave spectrum is studied to seek the waves that can be destabilized by the alphas. The radial mode structure is found for the growth rate calculation. The alpha particle distribution with a loss-cone is obtained from a Legendre function expansion and a diffusion front method. The growth rate of the instability is formulated from linear stability theory and computed numerically. A marginal stability boundary in the ion density and temperature parameters is calculated.

• Research Organization: Illinois Univ., Urbana (USA). Fusion Studies Lab.
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 5086724
• Report Number(s): UCRL-15719; ON: DE86000741
• Resource Relation: Other Information: Portions of this document are illegible in microfiche products
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
TANDEM MIRRORS
ALPHA PARTICLES
ANISOTROPY
CYCLOTRON FREQUENCY
DISTRIBUTION FUNCTIONS
ION DENSITY
ION TEMPERATURE
LOSS CONE INSTABILITY
MAXWELL EQUATIONS
CHARGED PARTICLES
DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
EQUATIONS
FUNCTIONS
INSTABILITY
MAGNETIC MIRRORS
OPEN PLASMA DEVICES
PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
PLASMA INSTABILITY
PLASMA MICROINSTABILITIES
THERMONUCLEAR DEVICES
700105* - Fusion Energy- Plasma Research- Plasma Kinetics-Theoretical- (-1987)