Results of an experiment relating apparent Doppler ion temperatures with non-thermal velocities in hot-fusion plasmas

Laboratorio Nacional de Fusión, Asociación Euratom-CIEMAT - E-28040 Madrid, Spain

Received: 3 April 2003
Accepted: 5 May 2003

Abstract

We present the results of an experiment carried out in the core of a hot magnetically confined plasma to substantiate a claimed relationship between apparent ion temperatures and non-thermal velocities. For this, the heaviest ions were injected into the plasma by laser ablation and localised ion temperatures were obtained from Doppler line-widths and energy spectra of escaped charge-exchange neutrals. Strong collisional coupling between majority () and impurity ions ensures that these should be well thermalised. However, the linear dependence found between apparent ion temperature and mass (, , , ) permits one to relate apparent Doppler ion temperatures to non-thermal velocities. The implications for the physics and diagnosis of thermonuclear plasmas are addressed.