Global gyrokinetic particle simulation of isotope effects in tokamaks

The favorable isotope scaling in tokamaks was first observed in the TFTR experiments in the nineties [1]. This scaling was inconsistent with GyroBohm scaling based on the linear growth rate. A global gyrokinetic particle code used at the time confirmed the observed trend [2]. The authors used the resonance broadening theory [3] to interpret these results. Recently, there has been a renewed interest in this subject due to new experiments on DIIID [4] and the planned D-T experiments in JET [5]. We will report on our latest computational and theoretical investigations of isotope effects related to these experiments based on a more realistic global gyrokinetic particle code [6].

[1] S. D. Scott, Phys. Plasmas 2, 2299 (1995)

[2] W. W. Lee and R. A. Santoro, Phys. Plasmas 4, 169 (1997)

[3] T. P. Dupree, Phys. Fluids 11, 2680 (1968)

[4] G. McKee et al., Bulletin of Am. Phys. Soc. DPP.GP11.79 (2017).

[5] R. V. Budny and JET contributors, Null. Fusion 56, 036013 (2016)

[6] W.X. Wang et al., Phys. Plasmas 13, 092505 (2006).