Neutral particle analyzer measurements on the SSPX spheromak

Journal Article · Tue May 15 04:00:00 EDT 2007 · Review of Scientific Instruments

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2737756· OSTI ID:20953442

Mezonlin, E D; Roberson, S; Raynor, C; Appartaim, R; Johnson, III, J A; Afanasyev, V I; Kozlovsky, S S; Moller, J M; Hill, D N; Hooper, E B; McLean, H S; Wood, R D ^[1]

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1. Florida A and M University, Tallahassee, Florida 32310 (United States)

A neutral particle analyzer is used to measure the time-resolved energy spectrum of neutral hydrogen leaving a spheromak plasma. A gas cell filled with 10-50 mTorr of helium is used to strip electrons from incoming neutral hydrogen, lowering the minimum detectable energy well below that obtained with thin foils. Effective neutral particle temperature is calculated by fitting a Maxwellian energy distribution to the measured energy spectrum above and below {approx}300 eV. A computational model with approximated profiles of plasma density and neutral density is used with the measured neutral hydrogen flux to estimate the ion temperature. Measurement of the power flux due to neutral hydrogen emitted at the measurement location is extended to the whole plasma surface to estimate the total charge exchange power loss from the plasma. The initial results indicate that the charge exchange power loss represents only 2% of the total input gun power during the sustainment phase of the discharge.

• OSTI ID: 20953442
• Journal Information: Review of Scientific Instruments, Journal Name: Review of Scientific Instruments Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 78; ISSN 0034-6748; ISSN RSINAK
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
CHARGE EXCHANGE
ELECTRON TEMPERATURE
ELECTRONS
ENERGY SPECTRA
EV RANGE
HELIUM
HYDROGEN
ION TEMPERATURE
NEUTRAL PARTICLE ANALYZERS
NEUTRAL PARTICLES
PLASMA
PLASMA CONFINEMENT
PLASMA DENSITY
PLASMA DIAGNOSTICS
POWER LOSSES
SSPX DEVICE
TIME RESOLUTION