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arXiv · 1606.00386

Stimulated emission of fast Alfvén waves within magnetically confined fusion plasmas

J W S Cook·R O Dendy·S C Chapman
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Abstract

A fast Alfvén wave with finite amplitude is shown to grow by a stimulated emission process that we propose for exploitation in toroidal magnetically confined fusion plasmas. Stimulated emission occurs while the wave propagates inward through the outer mid-plane plasma, where a population inversion of the energy distribution of fusion-born ions is observed to arise naturally. Fully nonlinear first principles simulations, which self-consistently evolve particles and fields under the Maxwell-Lorentz system, demonstrate this novel "alpha-particle channelling" scenario for the first time.

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J W S Cook, R O Dendy, S C Chapman. 2016-06-01. Stimulated emission of fast Alfvén waves within magnetically confined fusion plasmas. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.118.185001

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