Design and simulation of an Imaging Neutral Particle Analyzer for the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak

TL;DR

This paper presents the design and simulation of an Imaging Neutral Particle Analyzer for the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak, enabling high-resolution, fast measurements of neutral particles to study plasma behavior.

Contribution

It introduces a novel INPA diagnostic design with enhanced phase-space resolution and temporal response for the AUG tokamak, combining innovative detection and measurement techniques.

Findings

Design achieves phase-space resolution below 12 keV and 8 cm.

Temporal response up to 1 kHz with high resolution, above 100 kHz with low resolution.

Simulation results demonstrate effective measurement capabilities for plasma analysis.

Abstract

An Imaging Neutral Particle Analyser (INPA) diagnostic has been designed for the ASDEX Upgrade (AUG) tokamak. The AUG INPA diagnostic will measure fast neutrals escaping the plasma after CX reactions. The neutrals will be ionised by a 20 nm carbon foil and deflected towards a scintillator by the local magnetic field. The use of a neutral beam injector (NBI) as active source of neutrals will provide radially resolved measurements while the use of a scintillator as active component will allow us to cover the whole plasma along the NBI line with unprecedented phase-space resolution ($ < $ 12 keV and 8 cm) and fast temporal response (up to 1 kHz with the high resolution acquisition system and above 100 kHz with the low resolution one); making it suitable to study localised fast-ions redistributions in phase-space.