EFDA-JET-CP(08)03/09
Simulations to Elucidate Suprathermal Deuterium Ion Tail observed in He3 Minority ICRF Heated JET Plasmas
Measurement and simulation of supra-thermal tail of the deuterium ion energy distribution produced during He3 minority ICRF heating of deuterium plasmas in JET were reported in ref. [1]. The report demonstrated that the measured supra-thermal tail was an order of magnitude greater than that expected from model simulation of supra-thermal tail production due to Nuclear Elastic Scattering (NES) of Maxwellian deuterons on MeV energy ICRH driven He3 ions alone. In ref. [1] we conjectured that the excess supra-thermal deuterium ion tail resulted from additional NES on MeV energy ions from the fusion reaction D + He3 Æ p (14.7MeV) + He4 (3.6MeV) R(1) The conjecture was reinforced by the inference, based on measurement of escaped energetic protons and He4 ions [2], that a substantial population of (D + He3) fusion products was present in He3 minority ICRF heated plasmas in JET, providing additional sources of NES. In ref. [1] we stressed the need to fully understand this JET observation, in view of the potential fusion boosting benefits of such processes in He3 minority ICRF heated DT plasmas in ITER.