Experimental studies on fast-ion transport by Alfvén wave avalanches on the National Spherical Torus Experiment

Fast-ion transport induced by Alfv́n eigenmodes (AEs) is studied in beam-heated plasmas on the National Spherical Torus Experiment [Ono, Nucl. Fusion 40, 557 (2000)] through space, time, and energy resolved measurements of the fast-ion population. Fast-ion losses associated with multiple toroidicity-induced AEs (TAEs), which interact nonlinearly and terminate in avalanches, are characterized. A depletion of the energy range >20 keV, leading to sudden drops of up to 40% in the neutron rate over 1 ms, is observed over a broad spatial range. It is shown that avalanches lead to a relaxation of the fast-ion profile, which in turn reduces the drive for the instabilities. The measured radial eigenmode structure and frequency of TAEs are compared with the predictions from a linear magnetohydrodynamics stability code. The partial disagreement suggests that nonlinearities may compromise a direct comparison between experiment and linear theory.