UKAEA-CCFE-PR(25)351

Modeling fast ion losses due to tearing and internal kink perturbations in MAST-U

Fast ion (FI) loss properties in the presence of tearing mode and internal kink perturbations are numerically investigated for discharges in the MAST-U spherical tokamak, utilizing the MARS-F magnetohydrodynamic stability code and the REORBIT test particle guiding-center orbit-following module. Tracing about 100,000 particle markers sampled from the equilibrium distribution of the neutral-beam injection induced FIs, it is found that about 10% out of the total strike the limiting surface (including the divertor surface) in MAST-U discharge 46943, assuming a maximum perturbation of 100 G inside the plasma (corresponding to  6 G at the Mirnov probe location at the outboard mid-plane). Detailed particle tracing, assuming a uniform initial distribution in the 2D phase space (at given radial locations), reveals that counter-current FIs launched near the plasma edge are subject to signi cant prompt losses, while almost all co-current ions remain well con ned at the assumed perturbation level. Most lost FIs strike the lower-half of the limiting surface. Finite gyro-radius e ects prevent lost ions from striking the top-outer corner of the super-X divertor chamber. A scan of the perturbation level (based on discharge 45163) reveals, not surprisingly, an approximately linear scaling of the particle loss fraction (for counter-current FIs) with respect to the perturbation amplitude.

Collection:
Journals
Journal:
Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion
Publisher:
IOP (Institute of Physics)