Plasma heating and generation of energetic D ions with the 3-ion ICRF + NBI scenario in mixed H-D plasmas at JET-ILW

Abstract

Dedicated experiments were conducted in mixed H-D plasmas in JET to demonstrate the efficiency of the 3-ion ICRF scenario for plasma heating, relying on injected fast NBI ions as the resonant ion component. Strong core localization of the RF power deposition in the close vicinity of the ion-ion hybrid layer was achieved, resulting in an efficient plasma heating, generation of energetic D ions, strong enhancement of the neutron rate and observation of Alfvénic modes. A consistent physical picture that emerged from a range of fast-ion measurements at JET, including neutron and gamma-ray measurements, a high-energy neutral particle analyzer and MHD mode localization analysis, is presented. The possibility to moderate the fast-ion energies with the ratio P ICRF/P NBI and the choice of the NBI injectors is demonstrated. An outlook of possible applications of the 3-ion scenarios, including a recent example of its use in mixed D-3He plasmas in JET and promising scenarios for D-T plasmas, are presented.