About this Research Topic
Fusion energy by means of magnetically confined plasmas is a potential source of nearly unlimited energy. In order to reach the high temperatures required to produce fusion reactions, the plasma has to be heated up to temperatures of about 100 million degrees.
Several methods are possible for such a purpose. One of the most important techniques is to use ions with energy much higher than the thermal plasma temperature. The energetic ions can transfer their energy to the thermal ions through collisions increasing the
average temperature.
Producing energetic ions in plasmas is commonly done nowadays by means of the external injection of radio frequency waves in the ion cyclotron frequency. It is expected that also nuclear fusion reactions will provide energetic ions in the form of alpha particles at 3.5MeV,
which will become the main heating mechanism in future fusion reactors.
In addition to heating the confined plasmas by collisions, energetic ions can interact with other physical mechanisms that are also important in plasmas such as magnetohydrodynamics or Alfven waves. The final impact of all those interplays on the fusion energy produced in future fusion reactors is not well known due to the strong non-linear effects. Furthermore, from the experimental point of view, the generation of energetic ions with energies close to fusion-born alpha particles is a challenge.
Recently, contradictory results about the impact on energetic ions in tokamak plasmas have been obtained. On the one hand, a negative impact can be expected from the interplay with Alfven Waves, which would result in confinement degradation and reduced fusion power. On the other hand, recent results, mainly in the JET tokamak, point out an improvement in confinement in the presence of such particles. The recent Deuterium Tritium campaign at JET may give further evidence to solve this puzzle.
This special topic may help to further clarify the real impact of energetic particles in plasmas.
We are looking for papers dealing with the impact of energetic ions on magnetically confined plasmas covering a broad list of topics. These contributions should provide original results not published elsewhere.
A list of potential topics is the following:
- Generation of energetic ions by Ion Cyclotron Resonance Heating and Neutral Beam Injection
- Impact of energetic ions on MHD
- Impact of energetic ions on heat and particle transport
- Interplay between energetic ions and Alfven waves
- Energetic ion losses and their detection
- The role of energetic ions on the anomalous ion heating
- The role of energetic ions in stellarators in comparison to tokamaks
- Generation of alpha particles and their impact on magnetically confined plasmas
- Specific impact of energetic ions in ITER and the fusion reactor
- Development of novel diagnostics for measuring fast ions in fusion plasmas
Several methods are possible for such a purpose. One of the most important techniques is to use ions with energy much higher than the thermal plasma temperature. The energetic ions can transfer their energy to the thermal ions through collisions increasing the
average temperature.
Producing energetic ions in plasmas is commonly done nowadays by means of the external injection of radio frequency waves in the ion cyclotron frequency. It is expected that also nuclear fusion reactions will provide energetic ions in the form of alpha particles at 3.5MeV,
which will become the main heating mechanism in future fusion reactors.
In addition to heating the confined plasmas by collisions, energetic ions can interact with other physical mechanisms that are also important in plasmas such as magnetohydrodynamics or Alfven waves. The final impact of all those interplays on the fusion energy produced in future fusion reactors is not well known due to the strong non-linear effects. Furthermore, from the experimental point of view, the generation of energetic ions with energies close to fusion-born alpha particles is a challenge.
Recently, contradictory results about the impact on energetic ions in tokamak plasmas have been obtained. On the one hand, a negative impact can be expected from the interplay with Alfven Waves, which would result in confinement degradation and reduced fusion power. On the other hand, recent results, mainly in the JET tokamak, point out an improvement in confinement in the presence of such particles. The recent Deuterium Tritium campaign at JET may give further evidence to solve this puzzle.
This special topic may help to further clarify the real impact of energetic particles in plasmas.
We are looking for papers dealing with the impact of energetic ions on magnetically confined plasmas covering a broad list of topics. These contributions should provide original results not published elsewhere.
A list of potential topics is the following:
- Generation of energetic ions by Ion Cyclotron Resonance Heating and Neutral Beam Injection
- Impact of energetic ions on MHD
- Impact of energetic ions on heat and particle transport
- Interplay between energetic ions and Alfven waves
- Energetic ion losses and their detection
- The role of energetic ions on the anomalous ion heating
- The role of energetic ions in stellarators in comparison to tokamaks
- Generation of alpha particles and their impact on magnetically confined plasmas
- Specific impact of energetic ions in ITER and the fusion reactor
- Development of novel diagnostics for measuring fast ions in fusion plasmas
Keywords: Plasma, Tokamak, ITER, ion, confinement
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
