Neutral injection experiments in LITE

Technical Report · Mon May 01 04:00:00 EDT 1978

OSTI ID:6533691

A series of experiments to study hot ion buildup by neutral beam injection into a small scale mirror device was carried out in the LITE facility using two alternative warm target plasmas, a laser produced LiH plasma and the arc plasma produced by a hydrogenated titanium washer gun. Results for neutral beam injection intensities of 200 mA, 1 A, and 10 A incident on the target plasma are reported. They indicate that for low beam current densities strict control of the background vacuum environment with particular emphasis on the plasma source itself, is required in order to achieve hot ion dominance or sustenance. From the model projections based on the experiments in LITE, figures of merit are developed for achieving hot ion dominance with the two target plasmas. For a given injection beam flux, a factor of approximately 3.5 greater background gas density can be tolerated with the longer-lived washer gun target. With low beam currents the laser produced target may be necessary to meet the strict vacuum requirement, while for higher beam current the greater background density associated with the washer gun target can be tolerated, and operational advantages are gained by its use.

• Research Organization: United Technologies Research Center, East Hartford, CT (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6533691
• Report Number(s): UTRC-78-54
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
700205* -- Fusion Power Plant Technology-- Fuel
Heating
& Injection Systems
ALKALI METAL COMPOUNDS
BEAM INJECTION
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
HYDRIDES
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
LASER RADIATION
LASER-PRODUCED PLASMA
LITHIUM COMPOUNDS
LITHIUM HYDRIDES
MAGNETIC MIRRORS
NEUTRAL ATOM BEAM INJECTION
OPEN PLASMA DEVICES
PLASMA
PLASMA GUNS
RADIATIONS
THERMONUCLEAR DEVICES