Modification of the fusion energy gain factor in magnetic confinement fusion due to plasma temperature anisotropy

Abstract

In magnetic confinement fusion (MCF), the plasma always exhibits an anisotropic temperature distribution, which may impact not only the plasma dynamics but also the nuclear reaction process. Here, through theoretical derivations and self-consistent particle-in-cell simulations with the newly-developed nuclear reaction and alpha particle energy deposition calculation modules, we find that, if considering the plasma has an anisotropic temperature distribution, the fusion energy gain factor ($Q$) of MCF is significantly modified, where both the deuteron-triton nuclear reactivity and the alpha particle energy deposition fraction are heavily influenced. The simulation results show that, under the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) condition, if the plasma temperature anisotropy ratio can reach 0.1, i.e., the plasma perpendicular temperature component is one-tenth of its parallel component corresponding to the ambient magnetic field direction, the $Q$-value of ITER can be increased from the originally-designed 5 to about 10, with doubled enhancement.

Fusion reactivities with drift bi-Maxwellian ion velocity distributions

“…It can be seen that for all four of these fusion reactions, the enhancements only occur at low temperatures, such as the critical temperatures for D-T, D-D, D-He3, and p-B11, which are around 15 keV, 50 keV, 60 keV, and 140 keV, respectively. Similar conclusions have been drawn in previous studies, as reported in [15,[17][18][19]. The reason for this can be found by examining the cross section plot (figure 1) and the kernel function K(E).…”

“…For example, for T 1 → 0 and v d2 = 0, the result reduces to a beam-target case [8][9][10]. If considering only the beam in the same direction, equation ( 8) can be reduced to the results in [3,16,18]. If E d = 0, equation (8) reduces to equation (5).…”

“…Non-Maxwellian fusion reactions are common [12][13][14]. Recently, there have been efforts to address this issue, such as Nath et al [15] reducing the integral to three dimensions (3D) for drift tri-Maxwellian reactants, Ou et al [16] studying some beam and target cases, and Kolmes et al [17] (as well as Li et al [18]) providing a 1D form for bi-Maxwellian reactants [19] with the use of the error function. For plasma physics studies, one of the most widely used distributions is the drift bi-Maxwellian distribution, which is commonly used in studies of plasma waves and instabilities [20,21] and can also be reduced to the isotropic and thermal Maxwellian case.…”

A nuclear-reaction-based method for probing the nonthermal ion energy spectrum in high energy density laboratory plasmas

“…To simulate the nuclear reaction occurs in plasma, a selfconsistently extended nuclear reaction calculation module, the two-body reactions between macro-particles within each cell are considered in the PIC code, which yields alpha particles with weight [35],…”

Effects of Ferromagnetic Nanoparticles and Fluorination on Breakdown of SiR/Fe3 O4 Nanocomposites in High Magnetic Field

“…With the development of high-field magnets, it plays an important role in the fields of magnetic confinement nuclear fusion [1]- [3]. The reliability of coil insulation directly affects the safe and stable operation of the device and the stability of the entire system [4].…”