A proton activation diagnostic to measure D-- sup 3 He reaction yields

Journal Article · Thu Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 1992 · Review of Scientific Instruments; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1143580· OSTI ID:7250814

Lierzer, J R; Wenzel, K W; Petrasso, R D; Lo, D H; Coleman, J W; Li, C K ^[1]; Hsieh, E; Bernat, T ^[2]

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1. MIT Plasma Fusion Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 (United States)
2. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550 (United States)

We are developing activation diagnostics for monitoring energetic charged-particle fluxes in space and laboratory plasmas. More immediately, we plan to use activation to measure the time-integrated proton flux from D--{sup 3}He fusion reactions in Alcator C-MOD, providing a measure of the time-averaged D--{sup 3}He fusion rate. We demonstrated the technique's feasibility by inducing significant gamma activity in a titanium sample exposed to D--{sup 3}He protons created in our Cockcroft--Walton generator. The titanium target received a fluence of 5.5{times}10{sup 9} protons at 14.7 MeV (of order what a 3-cm{sup 2} target should receive from one shot in Alcator C-MOD) and became activated by the{sup 48}Ti({ital p},{ital n}){sup 48}V reaction. The activity's spectrum from a high-purity germanium (HPGe) detector showed the characteristic 0.984- and 1.312-MeV lines of {sup 48}V. The measured activity agreed reasonably well with theory. An absence of activity at those energies before D--{sup 3}He activation eliminated background or D--D product-induced activity as the gamma source. We intend to repeat the experiment with a chromium target to evaluate that material's diagnostic potential.

• DOE Contract Number: FG02-91ER54109
• OSTI ID: 7250814
• Journal Information: Review of Scientific Instruments; (United States), Vol. 63:10; ISSN 0034-6748
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
ALCATOR DEVICE
PLASMA DIAGNOSTICS
ACTIVATION DETECTORS
PROTON DETECTION
DEUTERON REACTIONS
FEASIBILITY STUDIES
FUSION YIELD
HELIUM 3 TARGET
PROTON REACTIONS
PROTONS
TITANIUM 48 TARGET
VANADIUM 48
BARYON REACTIONS
BARYONS
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-PLUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CHARGED PARTICLE DETECTION
CHARGED-PARTICLE REACTIONS
CLOSED PLASMA DEVICES
DAYS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
DETECTION
ELECTRON CAPTURE RADIOISOTOPES
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
FERMIONS
HADRON REACTIONS
HADRONS
INTERMEDIATE MASS NUCLEI
ISOTOPES
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
NEUTRON DETECTORS
NUCLEAR REACTION YIELD
NUCLEAR REACTIONS
NUCLEI
NUCLEON REACTIONS
NUCLEONS
ODD-ODD NUCLEI
RADIATION DETECTION
RADIATION DETECTORS
RADIOISOTOPES
TARGETS
THERMONUCLEAR DEVICES
TOKAMAK DEVICES
VANADIUM ISOTOPES
YIELDS
700320* - Plasma Diagnostic Techniques & Instrumentation- (1992-)