The paper is devoted to the IPM-2 ion source ion-optical system preparation for the plasma heating experiments with a neutral beam in the Globus-M2 spherical tokamak. Within the framework of this ...work, a complete renovation of the ion-optical system of the ion source was carried out, including its assembly, adjustment, and testing. To assess the quality of the work performed, measurements were made of the main electrical parameters of the high-energy beam, its energy spectrum and signals from secondary emission probes. Based on the data obtained, the beam power distribution profile and its characteristic dimensions are reconstructed, and the relative concentrations of the energy components of the beam are calculated.
Using a specially designed time-of-flight mass reflectron with a heating element inside the device, which makes it possible to heat solid samples and analyze the gases released from them, protective ...graphite tiles covering almost the entire plasma-facing surface of the Globus-M2 tokamak vacuum chamber were studied. Mass spectrometric analysis made it possible to determine the composition of the released gases to estimate their quantities, and thus to quantitatively characterize the quality of cleaning and degassing of tiles. It is shown that as a result of the applied method for processing tiles, the content of the light hydrogen isotope— protium, water, carbon monoxide and dioxide decreased several times, and the content of deuterium and helium isotopes decreased almost to zero.
It is shown that the radial profile of the electron temperature in the Globus-M2 spherical tokamak is related to the radial profile of the electron density by a power law
. An analytical model of the ...density attractor, assuming the dependence of
on the specific poloidal volume
v
, previously tested on the TCV and JET tokamaks with a large aspect ratio, holds on the spherical tokamak, and the approximation of 162 experimental profiles has resulted in
. The proposed model makes it possible to calculate the spatial distribution
and
according to a known magnetic configuration.
A design of the new neutral beam injector and the process of generation of a high-energy atomic beam are described in detail. The injector is fully prepared for experiments on auxiliary heating of ...the Globus-M2 tokamak plasma. The docking of injector with tokamak vacuum vessel is completed. The predictions for non-inductive current drive by 50 keV 1 MW neutral beam in the Globus-M2 are presented.
Data on plasma disruption processes in the modernized Globus-M2 spherical tokamak are presented. Electron temperature and density profiles before the disruption, immediately after thermal quench and ...in the stage of plasma current quench are measured using the diagnostics of Thomson scattering of laser radiation. The dependence of the plasma current decay time during disruption on the pre-disruption current value is determined. The distribution of the toroidal current, which is induced during disruption, in the shell of the vessel is determined on the basis of magnetic measurements. Electromagnetic loads on the vessel are calculated.
The thermal energy stored in plasma
, normalized internal plasma inductance
and current beta
are calculated via the free-boundary equilibrium PET code. The equilibrium reconstruction algorithm is ...iterative method of minimizing two parameters, the distance between the reconstructed plasma boundary and that simulated by the PET code, as well as the difference between the plasma diamagnetic flux from PET and the experimental one. The discharges from the Globus-M2 tokamak with a toroidal magnetic field up to 0.9 T and a plasma current of 0.3–0.4 MA in a mode with auxiliary heating by two atomic injectors are analyzed. The possibility of using approximate formulas for estimating
and
is considered. The measured diamagnetic flux is used to determine
and then to calculate
. The normalized internal plasma inductance
is additionally determined from the measured vertical magnetic field under the assumption that
.
The injection complex that heats plasma of Globus-M2 spherical tokamak consists of two injectors which supply high-energy beams of hydrogen (deuterium) atoms into the device’s plasma. Injectors are ...autonomous and allow for preparing and setting up the device and measuring the parameters of the atomic beam independently of the other injector and of the tokamak. The authors provide detailed analysis of each injector’s configuration, substantiate their selection of the experiment layout for introducing beams into the tokamak plasma, set forth characteristics of both injectors’ atomic beams injected into the tokamak plasma, and discuss the results of experiments on additional heating of Globus-M2 tokamak plasma obtained by injecting two atomic beams.
The results of experiments are described, which were performed at the Globus-M2 tokamak and aimed at studying the fast ion loss at the outer tokamak wall due to fast ions interaction with the ...toroidal Alfvén eigenmodes. The local heating of carbon tiles was experimentally measured, and the corresponding heat flux was calculated. It was shown how simulations of the lost particle orbits can explain the characteristic features of the spatial map of wall heating. The flux of lost fast particles onto the wall was studied as a function of the instability amplitude. It has been demonstrated that the simulations predict similar dependence of the fast ion flux on the instability amplitude and also correlate its nature to the peculiarities of fast ions spatial distribution.
The concept of next-generation spherical tokamak is being considered: the Globus-3 project, which, in its characteristics, is compatible with the infrastructure existing at the Ioffe Institute, but ...differs from the currently operating Globus-M2 tokamak in the stronger toroidal magnetic field (1.5–3.0 T) and increased duration of plasma discharge. The parametric analysis data are presented that determined the preliminary selection of the facility parameters. Three options for the electromagnetic system were considered: with the warm copper coils, with the pre-cooled copper coils and with the coils made of high-temperature superconductors. For the first option, the concept for designing the electromagnetic system and vacuum vessel of the facility has been developed. The basic shot scenario with duration of up to 3 s at the field of 1.5 T and plasma current of 0.8 MA is presented.
At the compact spherical Globus-M2 tokamak, a series of experiments was conducted to study the effect of the injection of nitrogen on the discharge parameters. The experiments were carried out in ...discharges in deuterium in the divertor configuration, and the auxiliary heating was performed by deuterium neutral beam injection. During the nitrogen seeding, a substantial decrease in electron temperature near the divertor was recorded as well as a sharp decrease of the heat flux onto the divertor plate, while the density and temperature of the main plasma changed insignificantly. Simulations by the SOLPS-ITER showed a satisfactory agreement with the experiment.