Abstract. The neutron emission spectrum from d+t→α+n reactions has been measured as a means to study the plasma response to radio frequency (RF) power coupled to hydrogen and deuteron minority components (through fundamental and second harmonic, respectively) in a tritium discharge at JET. The spectrum was measured with the magnetic proton recoil spectrometer and was analysed in terms of two spectral components due to thermal (TH) and high-energy (HE) deuterons interacting with the bulk ion population of thermal tritons. The results were used to derive information on the deuteron population in terms of temperatures (T_TH and T_HE) as well as corresponding particle and kinetic energy densities of the plasma; the bulk ion temperature (T_i = T_TH) was determined both before (with Ohmic heating only) and during the RF pulse. Similar information on protons was derived from other measurements in order to estimate the different RF effects on protons and deuterons. This paper illustrates qualitatively the type of empirical ion kinetic information that can be obtained from neutron emission spectroscopy; the data serves as a basis for comparison with results of predictive and interpretative models on RF effects in plasmas.

Print publication: Issue 7 (July 2002)
Received 18 February 2002, in final form 18 April 2002
Published 14 June 2002