Evidence for a new path to the self-sustainment of thermonuclear fusion in magnetically confined plasmas

In this work authors provide the first explanation for observations made in 1997 on the Joint European Torus of unexpected ion heating with fusion-born alpha particles occurring over time scales much shorter than those theoretically foreseen. The authors demonstrate that non-thermal alpha particles...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Europhysics letters 2012-02, Vol.97 (3), p.1-1
Main Authors: Testa, D, Albergante, M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alpha particles
Alpha rays
Channels
Fluid dynamics
Heating
Plasmas
Thermonuclear fusion
Turbulence
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Summary:In this work authors provide the first explanation for observations made in 1997 on the Joint European Torus of unexpected ion heating with fusion-born alpha particles occurring over time scales much shorter than those theoretically foreseen. The authors demonstrate that non-thermal alpha particles above a critical concentration stabilize ion-drift-wave turbulence, therefore significantly reducing one of the main energy loss channels for thermal ions. As such ion heating occurs over times scales much shorter than those classically predicted, this mechanism opens new prospects on additional paths for the self-sustainment of thermonuclear fusion reactions in magnetically confined plasmas.
ISSN:0295-5075
1286-4854