High-Current Runaway Electron Beam in a Tokamak Plasma

An equilibrium of toroidal plasma with a large electron-beam current has been realized using the runaway effect in a tokamak. Reproducible runaway-mode discharges are obtained with pure hydrogen gas by the help of intense titanium flashing which results in a low electron density. The beam current is estimated to be more than a half of the total toroidal current. The equilibrium of this discharge is maintained by a strong vertical field because the beam pressure gives rise to an additional increase in Shafranov Λ. The beam pressure is estimated to be more than 80% of the total pressure. The kinetic energy and the spatial distributions of beam electrons are studied by seeing X-ray emission from a tungsten wire inserted into the plasma. The increase of Shafranov Λ due to beam pressure is enhanced by puffing gas into the discharge.