Characteristics of neutron emission profile from neutral beam heated plasmas of the Large Helical Device at various magnetic field strengths

Abstract The neutron emission profile of deuterium plasma in the Large Helical Device was measured with a multi-sightline vertical neutron camera under various magnetic field strength conditions. It was found that the line-integrated neutron emission profile shifts outward in the co-neutral beam (NB) case and inward in the counter NB case. Here, co- and counter directions correspond to enhance and reduce the poloidal magnetic field directions, respectively. The shift becomes more significant when the magnetic field decreased in strength. The experimentally obtained neutron emission profile was compared with the orbit-following models simulated through the DELTA5D code. The calculated neutron emission profiles vary according to the magnetic field strength because of the change of beam ion orbit and the slowing down due to the plasma parameter changes. Although a relatively narrow profile was obtained in the calculations at the inboard side for the co-NB case in the relatively low field condition, the profiles obtained through calculation and experiment were almost qualitatively aligned.