TBD
TBD
Particle methods for kinetic simulations are numerically stable, easy to use, convenient for irregular geometries. The main challenge is the stochastic noise that could make the simulations unaffordable in low-speed problems (i.e., low signal-to-noise ratio) as well as transient problems where the time-averaging scheme is invalid. A lot of efforts have been made on the noise reduction by modifying the traditional direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method in solving the Boltzmann-like equations. At this presentation, I will introduce the direct simulation BGK (DSBGK) method, which can solve BGK-like equations as good approximations to the Boltzmann equation in many problems. As a duality of the DSMC method and the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM), the DSBGK method adopts a large number of simulated particles to represent the distribution function in the phase space, as used in the DSMC method but different from the LBM, while it updates the variables of each particle by integration of the kinetic equation along the corresponding trajectory, as modeled in the LBM but different from the DSMC method. The increments of particles’ variables inside each cell during each time step are obtained by the integration and the corresponding summations are used to regulate (not recompute) the macroscopic variables of the cell concerned, according to the mass, momentum and energy conservation laws. The previous values of cell’s variables are kept as anchors in the auto-regulation scheme to significantly reduce noise associated with the particles’ random movements into and out of each cell. Simulation results in several problems will be presented to show the noise reduction as well as the accuracy validation. Performance comparison with other particle and deterministic methods will be discussed.
Resonant interactions between runaway electrons (REs) and whistler waves in a tokamak may lead to pitch angle scattering of the REs. An increase in RE pitch angles may give rise to the energy dissipation of the runaways via synchrotron radiation. DIII-D experiments on whistler waves have indicated a possibility of intentionally launching whistler waves to mitigate the deleterious effects of REs on the plasma facing components via resonant interactions with whistlers [1,2]. In present work, we have use the coupled KORC-AORSA model to numerically analyze the complex nature of the interactions between whistler waves and runaway electrons in DIII-D. In this framework, we follow full orbit trajectories of large RE ensembles using the Kinetic Orbit Runaway Electron (KORC) code in the presence of whistler wave fields calculated by All Orders Spectral Algorithm (AORSA) code in a DIII-D experimental equilibrium. The nature of RE transport (diffusive/non-diffusive) [3] is analyzed in the presence of whistler fields and the impact of whistler field amplitudes and frequencies is observed on the pitch angle scattering of REs. Our findings indicate a significant increase in RE energy and scattering of the runaways to large pitch angles for whistler fields exceeding a threshold amplitude. The coupled KORC-AORSA simulation model can be further used to get physical insights into tokamak experiments on whistler waves- REs interactions.
[1] D. A. Spong et al., Phys. Rev. Lett., 120, 155002 (2018).
[2] W. W. Heidbrink at al., Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion, 61, 14007 (2019).
[3] D. del-Castillo-Negrete, Phys. Plasmas, 13, 082308 (2006).
A comprehensive understanding of electromagnetic effects on the microinstability properties of tokamak plasmas is becoming increasingly important as experimental values of the plasma beta and, therefore, electromagnetic fluctuations will be higher in reactor-relevant tokamak scenarios. Despite significant numerical progress in understanding the behaviour of instabilities such as the micro-tearing mode (MTM) or kinetic ballooning mode (KBM), there is still a lack of clarity about the fundamental physical processes that are responsible for them, owing to the complexity of full toroidal geometry. Constructing simplified models offers a path towards distilling the fundamental physical ingredients behind electromagnetic destabilisation. This talk focuses on electromagnetic instabilities driven by the electron-temperature gradient (ETG) in a local 'toy' model of a tokamak-like plasma. The model has constant equilibrium gradients (including magnetic drifts, but no magnetic shear) and is derived in a low-beta asymptotic limit of gyrokinetics. A new instability is shown to exist in the electromagnetic regime, the so-called 'thermo-Alfvénic instability' (TAI), whose physical mechanism hinges on a competition between diamagnetic drifts (due to the ETG) and rapid parallel streaming along perturbed field lines. Using linear gyrokinetic simulations, the TAI's presence is confirmed in slab geometry. The mapping of the TAI onto a more realistic tokamak equilibrium is considered, demonstrating that it survives aspects of the transition to toroidicity. A comparison is then drawn with the properties of the MTM and KBM, contextualising the TAI within the wider 'zoo' of electromagnetic instabilities commonly observed in tokamak simulations.
High energy particle resonances play an important role in particle confinement in toroidal fusion devices, both tokamaks and stellarators. In stellarators a resonance that matches the periodicity of the equilibrium field produces islands in particle orbits which increase in size with particle energy and can induce loss. As demonstrated in the Japanese stellarator LHD, the presence of a high frequency resonance invariably gives rise to a strong Alfven mode that causes particle loss. In a nonsymmetric stellarator a resonance does not produce a well defined island structure in the orbits, but typically scatters ten percent of orbits of all energies and pitch randomly, modifying mode growth and saturation properties. Avoiding the presence of high energy particle resonances should be a part of device design.
Recently, a flurry of activities has been carried out on the isotopic effects in JT-60U [1], JET [2] and DIII-D [3], which has shown favorable confinement trend for heavier hydrogen isotopes. The consensus from these experimental observations was that this is an unsolved puzzle in tokamak plasmas. This is in fact not quite accurate. When the favorable effects was first observed on TFTR [4,5] for hydrogen, deuterium and tritium experiments, a theoretical attempt was indeed made to understand the results by Lee and Santoro [6]. Apparently, this paper has not attracted much attention in the community. Recently, a paper by Lee and White [7] on the H-mode physics has also described the isotope effects at the H-mode pedestal. In this talk, the theoretical interpretations on these isotopic effects based on 1) the resonance broadening theory [8] in the core as well as 2) the force balance equation for the pedestal from the gyrokinetic theory [7] will be described. The implementation of the related physics in an initial value code such as GTC [9] and/or GTS [10] will also be discussed.
[1] H. Urano and E. Narita , Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 63, 084003 (2021)
[2] L. Horvath, C. F. Maggi, A. Chankin et al., Nuclear Fusion 61, 046015 (2021)
[3] L. Schmitz, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A381: 20210237 (2022)
[4] S. D. Scott, M. C. Zarnstorff, C. W. Barnes, R. Bell et al., Phys. Plasmas 2, 2299 (1995)
[5] S. D. Scott, G. W. Hammett, C. K. Phillips et al., IAEA-CN-64/A6-6 (1997)
[6] W. W. Lee and R. A. Santoro, Phys. Plasmas 4, 169 (1997)
[7] W. W. Lee and R. B. White, Phys. Plasmas 26, 040701 (2019)
[8] T. H. Dupree, Phys. Fluids 11, 2680 (1968)
[9] Z. Lin, T. S. Hahm, W. W. Lee et al., Science 281, 1835 (1998).
[10] W. X. Wang, Z. Lin, W. M. Tang, W. W. Lee et al., 13, 092505 (2006)
The first principle gyrokinetic numerical experiments investigating the isotopic dependence of energy confinement achieve a quantitative agreement with experimental empirical scaling, particularly in Ohmic and L-mode tokamak plasmas. Mitigation of turbulence radial electric field intensity |δEr|2 and associated poloidal δE×B fluctuating velocity with the radial correlation length l_cr ∝ Mi^0.11 strongly deviating from the gyro-Bohm scaling is identified as the principal mechanism behind the isotope effects. Three primary contributors are classified, the deviation from gyro-Bohm scaling, zonal flow and trapped electron turbulence stabilization. Zonal flow enhances isotope effects primarily through reinforcing the inverse dependence of turbulence decorrelation rate on isotope mass with ω_c ∝ Mi^-0.76, which markedly differs from the characteristic linear frequency. The findings offer insights into isotope effects, providing critical implications for energy confinement optimization in tokamak plasmas.
The generation of small scale, mean or large scale magnetic fields in cosmos and astrophysical bodies is an important problem in astrophysical plasmas. A possible mechanism behind these multi scale magnetic energy growth is explained via dynamo action. Shear flows [1] often coexist in astrophysical conditions and the role of flow shear on the onset of dynamo is only beginning to be investigated. The paradigm of investigation of the exponential growth of magnetic field caused by the interaction of small-scale velocity fluctuations and a flow shear; is commonly referred to as the “shear dynamo problem” [2]. Various laboratory experiments [3], as well as numerical studies have been performed to understand these astrophysical scenarios in detail. According to conventional understanding, for a large scale or mean field dynamo, a lack of reflectional symmetry (e.g., non-zero fluid or kinetic helicity) is required, where as for small scale or fluctuation dynamo it is not. Obviously the role of fluid or kinetic helicity on the onset of dynamo action is a sensible question to ask.
In this present work we have analyzed kinematic dynamo model i.e, a case wherein (magnetic field does not back-react on velocity field) using a flow recently proposed by Yoshida and Morrison (YM) [4]. An interesting and useful aspect of this flow is that, it is possible to inject finite fluid helicity in the system, by systematically varying certain physically meaningful parameter. Using direct numerical simulation, we demonstrate that by systematically injecting finite fluid helicity, a systematic route emerges that connects “non-dynamo” to “dynamo” regime [5]. Time-averaged magnetic energy spectrum, for various magnitudes of injected fluid helicity is calculated and it is observed that, the spectra contain a visible maxima at a higher mode number, which is the distinguishing feature of small scale dynamo (SSD) [5]. However for a nonlinear dynamo or self-consistent dynamo model, the nonlinear effects start to change the flow (once the magnetic field is large enough) to stop further growth in magnetic field energy, i.e, the flow and magnetic field “back react” on each other. The influence of helical and non-helical drive in such a nonlinear or self-consistent dynamo model is shown to have some crucial dynamics [6]. Evidence of small-scale dynamo (SSD) activity is found for both helical and non-helical drives [6]. The spectrum analysis shows that the kinetic energy evolution adheres to Kolmogorov’s k^−5/3 law, while the magnetic energy evolution follows Kazantsev’s k^3/2 scaling. These scalings are observed to be valid for a range of magnetic Prandtl numbers (Pm) [6]. We have performed the above said studies using an in-house developed, multi-node, multi-card GPU based weakly compressible 3D Magnetohydrodynamic solver (GMHD3D) [7, 8]. Details of this study will be presented.
References:
[1] S. Biswas & R. Ganesh, Phys. Fluids 34, 065101 (2022).
[2] S. Biswas & R. Ganesh, Phys. Plasmas 30, 112902 (2023).
[3] R. Monchaux, M. Berhanu, et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 044502 (2007).
[4] Z. Yoshida & P. J. Morrison, Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 244501 (2017).
[5] S. Biswas & R. Ganesh, Physica Scripta, Volume 98, Number 7.
[6] S. Biswas & R. Ganesh, Manuscript under Preparation (2024).
[7] S. Biswas, R. Ganesh et al. “GPU Technology Conference (GTC-2022)”,
https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/on-demand/session/gtcspring22-s41199/.[8] S. Biswas & R. Ganesh, Computers and Fluids 272 (2024) 106207.
Future devices like ITER will have limited capacity to drive toroidal rotation, increasing the risk of instabilities like resistive wall modes. Fortunately, many experiments have found that tokamak plasmas rotate “intrinsically”, that is, without applied torque. The modulated-transport model shows that such rotation may be caused by the interaction of ion drift-orbit excursions with the strong spatial variation of the turbulent momentum diffusivity [1]. The model predicts intriguing qualitative behavior, such as a strong dependence of edge intrinsic toroidal rotation on the major-radial position of the X-point, which was subsequently measured on TCV [2]. The model has also been experimentally validated through further dedicated tests [3, 4], as well as via application in the new European whole-device transport model IMEP [5]. However, certain applications will require a relaxation of the underlying assumptions. In particular, the original model required the turbulent momentum diffusivity to decay exponentially in the radial direction, while experiments often exhibit a more complicated variation. In this work, we generalize the modulated-transport model to allow the turbulent momentum diffusivity to depend on space in an axisymmetric but otherwise arbitrary way. To enable this generality, we assume that the normalized diffusivity is weak, roughly equivalent to assuming that the pedestal-top ion transit time is short compared to the transport time across the pedestal, a condition that is almost always met for experimental applications. Given the increased flexibility, along with a technically much easier calculation, the new approach may serve as a basis for future extensions, including shaped geometry and trapped particles as well as the retention of momentum transport by neutrals.
[1] T. Stoltzfus-Dueck, Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 065002 (2012).
[2] T. Stoltzfus-Dueck et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 245001 (2015).
[3] J. A. Boedo et al., Phys. Plasmas 23, 092506 (2016).
[4] A. Ashourvan, B. A. Grierson, D. J. Battaglia, S. R. Haskey, and T. Stoltzfus-Dueck, Phys. Plasmas 25, 056114 (2018).
[5] T. Luda et al., Nucl. Fusion 61, 126048 (2021).
Axisymmetric modes in elongated plasmas are normally associated with a well-known ideal instability resulting in a vertical shift of the whole plasma column. This vertical instability is stabilized by means of passive feedback consisting of eddy currents induced by the plasma motion in a nearby wall and/or in plasma-facing components. When a thin resistive wall is considered, the n=0 mode dispersion relation can be studied analytically with reduced ideal MHD models and is cubic. Under relevant conditions, two roots are oscillatory and weakly damped. These oscillatory modes present Alfvénic frequency and are dependent on plasma elongation and on the relative position of the plasma boundary and of the wall. The third root is unstable and represents the so- called resistive wall mode (RWM) [1]. We focus on the two oscillatory modes, dubbed Vertical Displacement Oscillatory Modes (VDOM), that can be driven unstable due to their resonant interaction with energetic ions.
The fast ion drive, involving MeV ions in present days tokamak experiments such as JET, may overcome dissipative and resistive wall damping, setting an instability threshold, as described in Ref. [2]. The effects of energetic particles are added within the framework of the hybrid kinetic-MHD model. An energetic ion distribution function with ∂F/∂E > 0 is required to drive the instability, achievable with pitch angle anisotropy or with an isotropic distribution in velocity space with regions of positive slope as a function of energy. The latter situation can be achieved by considering losses of fast ions or due to fast ion source modulation [3-4]. The theory presented here is partly motivated by the observation of saturated n=0 fluctuations reported in [4,5], which were initially interpreted in terms of a saturated n=0 Global Alfvén Eigenmode (GAE). Modeling of recent JET discharges using the NIMROD [6] extended-MHD code will be presented, focusing on mode structure and frequency dependence. It is early for us to conclude whether the mode observed at JET is a VDOM rather than a GAE, nevertheless, we discuss the main points of distinction between GAE and VDOM that may facilitate their experimental identification.
References
[1] T. Barberis, et al. 2022, J.Plasma Phys. 88, 905880511
[2] T. Barberis, et al 2022 Nucl. Fusion 62 06400
[3] Ya.I. Kolesnichenko and V.V. Lutsenko 2019 Nucl. Fusion 59 126005
[4] V. G. Kiptily et al 2022 Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 64 064001
[5] H. J. C. Oliver et al. 2017 Phys. Plasmas 24, 122505
[6] C. Sovinec et al. and the NIMROD Team 2004 J. Comp. Phys. 195 355
We discuss recent progress in understanding the role of transport physics in density limit phenomena. Our approach is one which combines theory and experiment. Contrary to the conventional wisdom that the density limit is enforced by MHD instability, findings indicate that the L−mode density limit is associated first with the degradation of the edge E × B shear layer. The latter occurs for k‖² vₜₕₑ² / ω νₑᵢ<1. Shear layer decay leads to strongly enhanced turbulence spreading and increased production of density 'blobs'. Interestingly, the spreading flux increases more rapidly with increasing n / n_G than does the particle flux. Shear layer decay is linked to a decline in zonal flow production.
A simple model for flow, fluctuation and density evolution reveals that the edge density will increase with edge heat flux (power). This favorable trend results from increased Reynolds stress flow drive at higher power. It provides physical insight into the power scaling of density limit, now observed in experiments. A scaling of n ∼ P^(1/3) is suggested for the case of ITG turbulence.
We briefly discuss recent density limit experiments in negative triangularity plasmas, as well as aspects of the H−mode density limit phenomenon. Implications for burning plasma are discussed.
Contributions from Ting Long, SWIP ; Rameswar Singh ,UCSD ; Rongjie Hong, UCLA and DIII−D ; Zheng Yan, Univ Wisc and DIII−D ; and George Tynan, UCSD are acknowledged.
Starting from the assumption that saturation of plasma turbulence driven by temperature-gradient instabilities in fusion plasmas is achieved by a local energy cascade between a long-wavelength outer scale, where energy is injected into the fluctuations, and a small-wavelength dissipation scale, where fluctuation energy is thermalized by particle collisions, we formulate a detailed phenomenological theory for the influence of perpendicular flow shear on magnetized-plasma turbulence. Our theory introduces two distinct regimes, called the weakly and strongly sheared regimes, each with its own set of scaling laws for the scale and amplitude of the fluctuations and for the level of turbulent heat transport. We discover that the ratio of the typical radial and poloidal wavenumbers of the fluctuations, i.e., their aspect ratio, plays a central role in determining the dependence of the turbulent transport on the imposed flow shear. Our theoretical predictions are found to be in excellent agreement with numerical simulations of two models of magnetized plasma turbulence: (i) an electrostatic fluid model of slab electron-scale turbulence, and (ii) Cyclone-base-case gyrokinetic ion-scale turbulence.
We present the first local delta-f nonlinear gyrokinetic (GK) simulations based on a gyro-moment (GM) approach, which exploits the projection of the distribution functions onto a Hermite-Laguerre velocity- space basis. We first demonstrate that, in contrast to gyrofluid models, the GM approach reproduces the Dimits shift, notably, with a coarser velocity space resolution than the continuum GK GENE code. In addition, we reveal that the choice of collision operator model (Dougherty, Sugama, Lorentz and Landau) significantly impacts the level of turbulent transport through multi-species zonal flow damping.
In addition, we show for the first time that the GM approach is able to bridge the gap between GK and reduced fluid modelling by its exact equivalency to the model of Ivanov et al. 2020 when considering the same limits. Leveraging its efficiency and multi-fidelity capability, we finally use the GM approach to explore the impact of triangularity in realistic DIII-D edge conditions across a range of models, spanning from GK electron-ion multi-scale simulations to the reduced fluid limit.
Turbulence is one of the key ingredients in shaping H-mode pedestals. Identifying the relevant turbulent transport mechanisms in a pedestal, however, is a great scientific and numerical challenge. Here, we address this challenge by global, nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations of two pedestals: One from ASDEX Upgrade (Type-I ELMy H-mode) and one from JET (hybrid scenario H-mode). The global simulations permit to calculate heat fluxes due to ion-scale turbulence in the steep gradient region encompassing the full pedestal from top to foot. They are supported by detailed characterizations of gyrokinetic instabilities via local, linear simulations at pedestal top, center and foot as well as dedicated nonlinear electron-scale heat flux calculations. Simulations are performed with the gyrokinetic, Eulerian, delta-f code GENE (genecode.org) and employ a new code upgrade of its global, electromagnetic model that enables stable simulations at experimental plasma beta values.
In both investigated pedestals from AUG and JET, we find turbulent transport to have a complex radial structure that is multi-scale and multi-channel. Electron transport in the AUG pedestal is found to transition in scale. At the pedestal top ion-scale TEM/MTM instabilities fuel electron transport whereas in the pedestal center electron-scale ETG transport takes over. Turbulent ion heat flux is present at the pedestal top and strongly reduces towards the steep gradient region. Magnetic shear is found to locally contribute to the stabilization of microinstabilities and reduction of heat flux. In the JET pedestal, transport due to ITG is found to play a much more important role, particularly on the pedestal top/ outer core. In both pedestals, ExB shear is confirmed to strongly reduce heat fluxes in the global, nonlinear simulations. We discuss implications of our results for the applicability of quasi-linear transport models in the pedestal.
Understanding the formation of large-scale structures in weakly magnetized plasmas represents a crucial step towards developing predictive design capabilities for E×B devices dedicated to investigating fundamental plasma physics phenomena. MISTRAL is such a device based at PIIM laboratory to study plasmas in cross-field configuration (E⊥B). The formation of coherent rotating structures in MISTRAL is supposed to be due to an interplay between various instabilities and the E×B flow. However, a definitive understanding of which instabilities are accountable for their emergence and the specific triggers involved remains elusive. An experimental investigation of MISTRAL plasmas has been performed to lay the basis for the theoretical modeling. A two-fluid model has been developed to discuss the linear stability of rotating plasma columns. Prior works have demonstrated that rotating plasma columns are susceptible to centrifugal flute modes. However, most of the existing models rely on the low-frequency approximation (LFA), which holds true when the instability frequency and equilibrium flow frequency are considerably smaller than the ion-cyclotron frequency. This assumption is challenged in numerous laboratory plasma devices, including weakly magnetized plasma columns like MISTRAL. To address this limitation, a radially global dispersion relation describing the centrifugal instability without the LFA has been derived and linear stability analysis is performed. A comparison has been made between the results obtained using the dispersion relation with the radially local approximation and those obtained using the radially global dispersion relation. This comparison revealed the non-applicability of the local solution to MISTRAL-like plasma systems. Due to the high fraction of neutrals in the present plasma system, the model is further extended to include the effects due to ion-neutral collisions. In this first step, the ion-neutral collision frequency is assumed to be small as compared to the ion-cyclotron frequency. The dispersion relation is then solved with finite ion-neutral collisionality and the linear stability analysis is conducted.
In magnetic confinement fusion plasmas, many instabilities have a flute mode character. The field-aligned coordinates bring the benefit of efficient resolution of parallel mode structure along the magnetic field direction. However, the curvilinear coordinates make equations and codes more complex especially in high order PDE.
The Compile-time Symbolic Solver (CSS) is developed to solve PDEs and ODEs in finite difference method from vector equations directly. CSS is a general-purpose finite difference framework for generating finite difference codes easily and greatly reducing the risk of implementation mistakes.
For physics model, CSS supports arbitrary equations in arbitrary curvilinear coordinates and multiple boundaries for both PDEs and ODEs. For memory distribution, N-dimension distribution grids with hybrid TBB and MPI parallelization in arbitrary dimensions are implemented. For numerical method, CSS employs Method of Line in numerical difference with arbitrary grid points and offset. The N-dimension B-spline is implemented with arbitrary orders for pushing particles. CSS employs PARDISO to solve matrix problem and Runge–Kutta method for time advance. CSS is a C++20 template metaprogramming code which guarantee zero-overhead at runtime. Furthermore, the instruction optimization makes the codes generated by CSS much faster than usual codes.
We have used CSS to generate the Gyrokinetic-MHD Hybrid Code GMEC, 3D Field and the Particle calculation code FP3D and a fluid ITG code. For GMEC, we propose a new shifted metric method which is able to stabilize numerical instabilities and avoid the interpolation from MHD field-align grids to particle flux coordinate grids at the same time. The equilibriums can be analytical ones or numerical ones calculated by VMEC or DESC. We have used GMEC to simulate ballooning modes (IBM) with or without the diamagnetic drift term and tearing modes. The simulation results agree well with those of the eigenvalue code MAS. The n=20 IBM costs only 17 seconds using 448 cores. We have also used GMEC to simulate energetic particle-driven TAEs in a circular equilibrium and a CFETR equilibrium. The results of an n=3 TAE agree well with those of M3D-K code.
We have also used CSS to generate the test particle code FP3D for calculation of magnetic surfaces, rotation transform, particle orbits and neoclassical transport in both tokamaks and stellarators. We have used FP3D to simulate ripple losses in EAST tokamak and neoclassical transport coefficient in NCSX. The results are consistent with previous results. FP3D has been used in design and optimization of stellarators successfully.
[1] P. Y. Jiang, et al. CSS: Compile-time symbolic solver for finite difference method. To be submitted.
[2] P. Y. Jiang, et al. GMEC: Gyrokinetic-MHD Hybrid Code. To be submitted. [3] P. Y. Jiang, Z. C. Feng, G. D. Yu, and G. Y. Fu, FP3D: A code for calculating 3D magnetic field and particle motion. Submitted to POP.Accurately predicting lower hybrid current drive (LHCD) in the weak-damping regime is an outstanding challenge, which suggests important physics is missing in present-day ray-tracing/Fokker-Planck (RTFP) models. In this work, the impact of filamentary scrape-off layer (SOL) turbulence on LH waves is investigated using a new multi-scale scattering model. When coupled to an RTFP code, the resulting simulations of LHCD in Alcator C-Mod show RF power deposition profiles robustly peaked on-axis, leading to good agreement with experimental Motional Stark Effect and hard X-ray measurements. Therefore, it is shown that the rotation of the perpendicular wave-vector due to SOL turbulence is sufficient to bridge the discrepancy between simulation and experiment. Notably, this model predicts an asymmetric broadening of the transmitted wave-spectrum, which is attributed to full-wave scattering effects in the presence of spatially coherent turbulence. This asymmetry leads to rotation of incident power away from the plasma core when SOL densities are sufficiently high. RTFP modeling shows this effect plays a significant role in the anomalous drop in LHCD efficiency observed at high densities.
The multi-scale scattering model has two steps. (1) Single filament-wave interactions are solved in full-wave formalism using a Mie-scattering technique. (2) Multiple of these filament-wave interactions are modeled using the radiative transfer approximation, in which a photon’s scattering probability depends on the statistical properties of the filament population. The radiative transfer equation (RTE) is then solved using a Monte Carlo scattering term in a ray-tracing model, allowing for self-consistent coupling to RTFP codes. For verification and comparison against other models, the RTE is also solved in a simple slab geometry using a Markov chain. This model shows good agreement with ray-tracing in the Wentzel-Kramer-Brillouin (WKB) limit, and predicts greater, asymmetric scattering beyond the WKB limit. Good agreement is also found with numeric full-wave solutions at sufficiently low filament packing-fraction, which is consistent with the validity limit of the radiative transfer approximation.
It should be emphasized that this multi-scale scattering model retains many important full-wave effects while remaining computationally inexpensive, allowing fast parameter scans and inter-shot analysis. In addition, this model is highly applicable to the modeling of electron cyclotron wave scattering since the radiative transfer approximation is increasingly valid for waves at higher k.
B. Biswas et al., “Spectral broadening from turbulence in multiscale lower hybrid current drive simulations,” Nuclear Fusion, 63, 1 (2022).
B. Biswas et al., “A hybrid full-wave Markov chain approach to calculating radio-frequency wave scattering from scrape-off layer filaments,” Journal of Plasma Physics, 87, 5 (2021).
This is joint work with M. O'Neil, L. Greengard, and L.-M. Imbert-Gerard
Since the work of Sauter in 1931 it is known that quantum electrodynamics (QED) exhibits a so-called "critical" electromagnetic field scale, at which the quantum interaction between photons and macroscopic electromagnetic fields becomes nonlinear. One prominent example is the importance of light-light interactions in vacuum at this scale, which violates the superposition principle of classical electrodynamics. Furthermore, an electromagnetic field becomes unstable in this regime, as electron-positron pairs can be spontaneously created from the vacuum at the expenses of electromagnetic-field energy (Schwinger mechanism). Unfortunately, the QED critical field scale is so high that experimental investigations are challenging. One promising pathway to explore QED in the nonlinear domain with existing technology consists in the combination of modern (multi) petawatt optical laser systems with highly energetic particles. The suitability of this approach was first demonstrated in the mid-1990s at the seminal SLAC E-144 experiment. Since then, laser technology continuously developed, implying the dawn of a new era of strong-field QED experiments. For instance, the basic processes nonlinear Compton scattering and Breit-Wheeler pair production are expected to influence laser-matter interactions and in particular plasma physics at soon available laser intensities. Therefore, a considerable effort is being undertaken to include these processes into particle-in-cell (PIC) codes used for numerical simulations.
In the first part of the talk the most prominent nonlinear QED phenomena are presented and discussed on a qualitative level. Afterwards, the mathematical formalism needed for calculations with strong plane-wave background fields is introduced with an emphasize on fundamental concepts. Finally, the nonlinear Breit-Wheeler process is considered more in depth. In particular, the semiclassical approximation is elaborated, which serves as a starting point for the implementation of quantum processes into PIC codes.