Feasibility Study of a Laser-Based Approach for Diagnosing Deuterium Neutrals in the Edge of Fusion Devices

Abstract

In magnetically-confined plasmas of tokamaks, neutral deuterium/hydrogen (D/H) atoms play a role in energy, momentum, and particle balance, as well as the stabilization of plasma turbulence. One key important fusion performance parameter is the pedestal density. Understanding the pedestal density formation is critical for the development of predictive model of future fusion devices. Typically, measurements of the neutrals are obtained using optical emission spectroscopy of the Lyman alpha lines, which is a line-integrated measurement. The plasma in tokamaks is characterized by a high density of electrons and ions and a relatively low concentration of neutral hydrogen atoms, which could make direct measurement of density seemingly impossible at first. We propose a laser-based method that allows for accurate measurement of both the spatial and absolute magnitude of the neutral D/H with minimal knowledge of the radial profiles of electron temperatures and densities. This relies on the fact that the neutral spectral profile can have a larger peak than the electron spectral profile and thus make the neutral density signal resolvable. In practice, this method can be co-located with Thomson scattering systems and is referred to as laser Rayleigh scattering (LRS). More specifically, we assess and evaluate the LRS method for two test cases: in the midplane radii of the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX), and in the small angle slot divertor configuration of DIII-D. Preliminary simulations and calculations will determine the feasibility of LRS in the presence of incoherent Thomson scattering under neutral densities ranging from $ 10^{13} $ to $ 10^{21} \ \text{m}^{-3} $. Wavelength dependence of LRS will be evaluated to determine the boost in the signal and photon generation capability.