Observation of significant Doppler shift in deuterium-deuterium neutron energy caused by neutral beam injection in the large helical device

Abstract

Abstract The compact neutron emission spectrometer (CNES) having a tangential sightline was installed to observe a significant Doppler shift of the neutron energy due to the high-energy tangential neutral beam (NB) injections in the Large Helical Device (LHD) for understanding of the energy distribution of fast-ion. The CNES is based on a 1-inch diameter and 1-inch height EJ301 liquid scintillator coupled with a conventional 1-inch photomultiplier tube. The histogram of the integrated pulse signal (Q total) during different NBs heating phases measured by the CNES shows that the edge of Q total changes depending on NB directions. Using the simple derivative unfolding technique, the neutron energy spectra were unfolded from the measured Q total histogram. Peaks of the neutron energy shift to 2.0 MeV, 2.42 MeV, and 3.0 MeV according to the injection direction of NBs. The obtained neutron energy is almost consistent with the virgin deuterium-deuterium neutron energy evaluated by the simple two-body kinematics considering the sightline of CNES, NB injection angle, and NB injection energy.

Keywords

• Doppler effect
• Compact neutron emission spectrometer
• Large helical device
• Liquid scintillator
• Neutral beam heating