First measurements of energetic protons in Mega Amp Spherical Tokamak Upgrade (MAST-U).

Aboutaleb, A; Allan, S Y; Boeglin, W U; Cecconello, M; Jackson, A; McClements, K G; Parr, E

Abstract

First proton production rates from the d(d,p)t reaction in the Mega Amp Spherical Tokamak Upgrade (MAST-U) are measured. The data were taken during the MAST-U experimental campaign with an upgraded version of the proton detector (PD) previously used in MAST. The new detector array consists of three collimated silicon surface barrier detectors with a depletion depth of 300 μm and a collimated 120 μm thick diamond detector, mounted on the MAST-U reciprocating probe arm. This array measures the energies of unconfined energetic 3 MeV protons and 1 MeV tritons mainly produced by beam-thermal DD reactions during neutral beam injection heating. Diamond detectors have the potential to be uniquely suited to detect charged fusion products as they promise to be much more radiation resistant and much less sensitive to temperature variations compared to silicon-based detectors. Using silicon and diamond-based detectors simultaneously allowed us to directly compare the performance of these two detector types. PD particle rates measured during different plasma scenarios are presented and compared to neutron rates measured using the neutron camera upgrade and TRANSP predictions. [Abstract copyright: © 2024 Author(s). Published under an exclusive license by AIP Publishing.]

Citation

Aboutaleb, A., Allan, S. Y., Boeglin, W. U., Cecconello, M., Jackson, A., McClements, K. G., & Parr, E. (2024). First measurements of energetic protons in Mega Amp Spherical Tokamak Upgrade (MAST-U). Review of Scientific Instruments, 95(8), Article 083522. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0218380

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 13, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Aug 8, 2024
• Publication Date: Aug 1, 2024
• Deposit Date: Aug 30, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 2, 2025
• Journal: Review of scientific instruments
• Print ISSN: 0034-6748
• Electronic ISSN: 1089-7623
• Publisher: American Institute of Physics
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 95
• Issue: 8
• Article Number: 083522
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0218380
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2768104