The m = 2, n = 1 (where m and n are the poloidal and toroidal mode numbers, respectively) neoclassical tearing mode (NTM) has been proposed as a candidate to explain the larger than expected losses of high energy ions produced by neutral beam injection observed in several experiments. Although the numerical simulations performed so far to study the effect of NTMs on energetic ions have reproduced several features observed in experiments, the agreement is not completely satisfactory. In particular, it has been difficult to reproduce the total amount of losses, which are affected by the details of the perturbation in the edge region. In this work, we study the effect of NTMs on the confinement of energetic ions produced by NBI injection using FOCUS, a full orbit code that runs in graphical processing units. This allows us to follow the evolution of a large number of ions with modest resources. A reconstruction technique that includes the experimental information available is employed to calculate the perturbed magnetic field. The main result of this study is that when the frequency of the NTM matches the toroidal precession frequency omega ( tp ) of the trapped ions ( omega tp & SIM;E

A Full-Orbit CUDA Solver for particle simulations in plasmas, FOCUS, has been developed. The code follows exact particle trajectories by solving Newton's equations with the Lorentz force. The code can use fields calculated analytically or numerically and it is also possible to use the information provided by equilibrium reconstruction and transport codes. FOCUS has an elastic collisions module which covers the whole particle energy range in magnetic fusion devices. Moreover, an atomic collision module was also included to simulate the interaction of the test particles with neutral or partially ionized species. Regarding performance, the main feature is that the code runs on GPUs, allowing the simulation of a large number of particles using moderate computational resources. Different versions of the code have been used in several papers. Here we present a complete description of its capabilities, the basis physics included and detailed information about the numerical algorithms employed. Finally, some examples are presented.

We studied the effect of saturated kink-like instabilities on the redistribution of W impurities. A numerical code that follows the exact trajectories of the impurity ions in the total fields and includes collisions was employed. The code is written in CUDA C and runs in graphical processing units, allowing simulations with a large number of particles with modest resources. The total electric and magnetic fields are calculated as the sum of a simple analytical equilibrium (large aspect ratio, circular cross section) plus the fields of the kink mode. Our simulations show that when the W ions have a thermal velocity distribution, with zero mean velocity, the kink has no effect on the W density. However, when we include the plasma rotation and the drag on the impurities, the kink can affect the W density. When the average passing frequency of the W ions is similar to the frequency of the kink mode, the expulsion of W ions from the plasma core is maximized and the W density profile shows a hollow structure. This could have implications for the mitigation of W accumulation.

. The effect of charge changes on the transport of alpha particles is studied with a numerical code that follows the exact particle trajectories and includes the effect of elastic and inelastic collisions. It is shown that charge changing processes can produce significant fluxes in the edge-SOL region. The redistribution of high energy ions by (2,1) NTM modes is studied using a simple cylindrical equilibrium. It is shown that the electric field produced by the rotation of the mode can have a large effect and should be properly calculated.

Numerical evidence for the existence of spatially chaotic magnetic field lines about the collapse phase of tokamak sawteeth with incomplete reconnection is presented. This uses the results of extensive test particle simulations in different sets of electromagnetic perturbations tested against experimental JET measurements. In tokamak sawteeth, that form a laboratory prototype of magnetic reconnection, the relative magnetic perturbation delta B/B may reach a few percents. This does not apply to tokamak operating regimes dominated by turbulence where delta B/B is usually not larger than 10(-4). However, this small magnetic perturbation being sustained by a large spectrum of modes is shown to be sufficient to ensure the existence of stochastic magnetic field lines. This has important consequences for magnetic confinement fusion where electrons are dominantly governed by the magnetic force. Indeed some overlap between magnetic resonances can locally induce chaotic magnetic field lines enabling the spatial redistribution of the electron population and of its thermal content. As they are the swiftest plasma particles, electrons feed back the most rapid perturbations of the magnetic field.

Stochasticity is an ingredient that may allow the breaking of the frozen-in law in the reconnection process. It will first be argued that the non-ideal effects may be considered as an implicit way to introduce stochasticity. Yet there also exists an explicit stochasticity that does not require the invocation of non-ideal effects. This comes from the spatial (or Eulerian) chaos of magnetic field lines that can show up only in a truly three-dimensional description of magnetic reconnection since the two-dimensional models impose the integrability of the magnetic field lines. Some implications of this magnetic braiding, such as the increased particle finite-time Lyapunov exponents and increased acceleration of charged particles, are discussed in the frame of tokamak sawteeth that forms a laboratory prototype of spontaneous magnetic reconnection. A justification for an increased reconnection rate with chaotic vs. the integrable magnetic field lines is proposed. Moreover, in 3D, the Eulerian chaos of the magnetic field lines may coexist with the Eulerian chaos of velocity field lines, that is more commonly named the turbulence.

Various mechanisms for anomalous alpha particle dif fusion have been considered. These include large scale MHD fluctuations, microturbulence, toro idal ripple and perturbations produced by ELM control coils. We show that processes that chan ge the charge state of the alpha particles, and therefore their Larmor radius (i. e. charge exchang e), can also produce significant diffusion. Since a large diffusion coefficient is obtained for the p destal-edge-SOL region this mechanism should be included in calculations of the alpha particles flux reaching the wall or divertor plates.

The dynamics of electron acceleration driven by laser wakefield inside a 30.5 mm long dielectric capillary tube is analyzed using radiation emitted in the x-ray range. 3D particle-in-cell simulations, performed with parameters close to the experimental ones, show that in long plasmas, the accelerated electrons catch up and finally overrun the driving laser owing to a higher velocity of the electrons in the plasma. The electrons are then transversely scattered by the laser pulse, and penetrate the capillary wall where they generate bremsstrahlung radiation, modeled using GEANT4 simulations. The signature of bremsstrahlung radiation is detected using an x-ray camera, together with the betatron radiation emitted during electron acceleration in the plasma bubble. The reflection of betatron radiation from the inner capillary surface also accounts for a fraction of the observed signal on the x-ray camera. The simulation results are in agreement with the experimental ones and provide a detailed description of the electron and radiation properties, useful for the design of laser wakefield accelerators or radiation sources using long plasma media.

The redistribution of alpha particles due to internal kink modes is studied. The exact particle trajectories in the total fields, equilibrium plus perturbation, are calculated. The equilibrium has circular cross section and the plasma parameters are similar to those expected in ITER. The alpha particles are initially distributed according to a slowing down distribution function and have energies between 18 keV and 3.5 MeV. The (1, 1), (2, 2), and (2, 1) modes are included and the effect of changing their amplitude and frequency is studied. When only the (1, 1) mode is included, the spreading of high energy (E≳1 MeV) alpha particles increases slowly with the energy and mode frequency. At lower energies, the redistribution is more sensitive to the mode frequency and particle energy. When a (2, 1) mode is added, the spreading increases significantly and particles can reach the edge of the plasma. Trapped particles are the most affected and the redistribution parameter can have maxima above 1 MeV, depending on the mode frequency. These results can have important implications for ash removal.

Submitted for the DPP14 Meeting of The American Physical Society Positron self-driven hollow channel in non-linear plasma wakefields1 LIGIA DIANA AMORIM, JORGE VIEIRA, RICARDO A. FONSECA, LUIS O. SILVA, GoLP/Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear, Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon, GOLP/INSTITUTO DE PLASMAS E FUSÃO NUCLEAR TEAM — Plasma based accelerators are capable of sustaining very high acceleration gradients when compared to conventional accelerators. In particular plasma based accelerators operating in non-linear regimes reached the 100GV/m. One of the challenges for a future plasma based collider is to accelerate positrons in nonlinear regimes. Although novel techniques have been investigated to this end [1], it is still important to propose and explore other new configurations for positron acceleration in non-linear regimes. In this context we suggest a novel process for positron acceleration in non-linear plasma wakefields, where a tightly focused positron drive beam expels the plasma ions forming a hollow channel with large accelerating and focusing wakefields suitable for positron acceleration. We introduce the setup of the proposed scheme and illustrate it with analytical and numerical results of a 3D numerical simulations performed with the PIC code OSIRS [2]. Moreover, we discuss the optimal conditions for the positron drive beam stability. [1] J. Vieira, J.T. Mendonça, PRL 112, 215001 (2014); [2] R. A. Fonseca et al., Lect. Notes Comput. Sci. 2331, 342 (2002). 1This work was partially supported by FCT grant SFRH / BD / 84851 / 2012. We acknowledge PRACE for access to resources on SuperMUC (Leibniz Research Center). Ligia Diana Amorim GoLP/Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear, Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon Date submitted: 11 Jul 2014 Electronic form version 1.4

A dynamical analysis applied to a reduced resistive magnetohydrodynamics model is shown to explain the chronology of the nonlinear destabilization of modes observed in tokamak sawteeth. A special emphasis is put on the nonlinear self-consistent perturbation of the axisymmetric m = n = 0 mode that manifests through the q-profile evolution. For the very low fusion-relevant resistivity values, the q-profile is shown to remain almost unchanged on the early nonlinear timescale within the central tokamak region, which supports a partial reconnection scenario. Within the resistive region, indications for a local flattening or even a local reversed-shear of the q-profile are given. The impact of this ingredient in the occurrence of the sawtooth crash is discussed.

Laser wakefield electron acceleration in the blow-out regime and the associated betatron X-ray radiation were investigated experimentally as a function of the plasma density in a configuration where the laser is guided. Dielectric capillary tubes were employed to assist the laser keeping self-focused over a long distance by collecting the laser energy around its central focal spot. With a 40 fs, 16 TW pulsed laser, electron bunches with tens of pC charge were measured to be accelerated to an energy up to 300 MeV, accompanied by X-ray emission with a peak brightness of the order of 1021 ph/s/mm2/mrad2/0.1%BW. Electron trapping and acceleration were studied using the emitted X-ray beam distribution to map the acceleration process; the number of betatron oscillations performed by the electrons was inferred from the correlation between measured X-ray fluence and beam charge. A study of the stability of electron and X-ray generation suggests that the fluctuation of X-ray emission can be reduced by stabilizing the beam charge. The experimental results are in good agreement with 3D particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation.

The redistribution of alpha particles due to internal kink modes is calculated. The exact particle trajectories in the total, equilibrium plus perturbation, fields are calculated. The equilibrium magnetic field is obtained by analytically solving the Grad-Shafranov equation. The perturbed electric and magnetic fields are reconstructed using the experimental information about the displacement eigenfunction. An effective diffusion coefficient is introduced to quantify the magnitude of the particle redistribution produced by the perturbations.

Laser wakefield is generated inside capillary tubes in order to study the conditions for self-injection of plasma electrons and their acceleration inside a large domain of parameters. Dielectric capillary tubes are employed to guide the laser pulse and collect laser energy around the central focal spot to favor laser propagation. Electrons are observed to be self-injected and accelerated to the 200 MeV range when a peak laser intensity as low as 5x10(17) W/cm(2) is used. X-rays emitted by betatron radiation constitute a precise diagnostic of the electron acceleration process. Furthermore, the peak brightness of X-rays is increased to 10(21) ph/s/mm(2)/mrad(2)/0.1%BW when the laser pulse is focused to 5x10(18) W/cm(2), which is about 30 times higher than the value obtained by using a 2 mm gas jet.

Electrons accelerated in the nonlinear regime in a laser wakefield accelerator experience transverse oscillations inside the plasma cavity, giving rise to ultra-short pulsed x-rays, also called the betatron radiation. We show that the fluence of x-ray can be enhanced by more than one order of magnitude when the laser is guided by a 10 mm long capillary tube instead of interacting with a 2 mm gas jet. X-rays with a synchrotron-like spectrum and associated critical energy ∼5 keV, with a peak brightness of ∼1×1021 ph/s/mm2/mrad2/0.1%BW, were achieved by employing 16 TW laser pulses.

The dynamics of electron acceleration by laser wakefield and the associated x-rays emission in long plasmas are numerically investigated for parameters close to the threshold of laser self-focusing. The plasma length is set by the use of dielectric capillary tubes that confine the gas and the laser energy. Electrons self-injection and acceleration to the 170 MeVs are obtained for densities as low as 5 × 1018 cm−3 and a moderate input intensity (0.77 × 1018 W/cm2). The associated x-ray emission at the exit of the capillary tube is shown to be an accurate diagnostic of the electrons self-injection and acceleration process.

Modelling of electron acceleration driven by laser wakefield in centimetre-long capillary tubes was performed and compared with experimental results. Simulations using the WAKE code (Mora and Antonsen 1997 Phys. Plasma 4 217) were compared with the results of the 3D particle-in-cell CALDER-CIRC code (Lifschitz et al 2009 J. Comput. Phys. 228 1803). The results give some insight into the role of guiding to achieve electron energies of the order of 250 MeV with modest input laser intensities (similar to 0.77 x 10(18) W cm(-2)) and low plasma densities (n = 5 x 10(18) cm(-3)).