Observation of Ion Cyclotron Emission Owing to DD Fusion Product H Ions in JT-60U

Abstract

High-frequency fluctuations in the ion cyclotron range of frequency (ICRF) are excited in magnetically confined plasmas because of the distortion of velocity distribution. In deuterium plasma experiments in JT-60U, ion cyclotron emission (ICE) detected as magnetic fluctuations is observed using ICRF antennas as pickup loops. The toroidal wave-numbers can be estimated using the phase differences between the signals from antenna elements arrayed in the toroidal direction. In this manuscript, ICE due to fusion product (FP) H ions, ICE(H), which is identified separately from the second-harmonic ICE caused by D ions, is newly reported. ICE is considered to result from spontaneous excitation of magnetosonic waves associated with FP high-energy ions. ICE caused by ³He ions and T ions has already been identified and confirmed to have finite toroidal wave-numbers. In contrast, ICE caused by ions originating in neutral beam injection has no toroidal wave-numbers. It is suggested that the appearance of ICE(H) depends strongly on the plasma density, and weak magnetic shear operation is one of the possible conditions for the observation of ICE(H).