Escaping 1 MeV tritons in TFTR

1 MeV tritons created by D-D reactions can simulate the 'single-particle' behavior expected with 3.5 MeV D-T alphas, since the gyroradii and slowing-down of these two particles are similar. This paper describes measurements of the flux of escaping 1 MeV tritons from the TFTR plasma during high power D0→D neutral beam injection, and shows that in most cases the observed triton loss is consistent with the classical (single-particle) first-orbit loss model. In this model tritons are lost if their first orbit intersects the wall due to their large banana width, while almost all tritons confined on their first orbit should stay confined until thermalized. The triton detectors are ZnS(Ag) scintillator screens housed in light-tight boxes located just outside the plasma boundary at the bottom of the TFTR vessel. They are particle 'pinhole' cameras which can resolve the triton flux vs. pitch angle (to ±5o), energy (to ±50 %), and time (to <20 μsec). The 2-D images of triton flux onto these scintillators are optically coupled to either an intensified TV camera or to photomultiplyer tubes for fast time resolution. The soft x-ray background in an earlier prototype has been eliminated. Although there are presently 8 such detectors in TFTR, this paper discusses results from only the detector located just below the vessel center (R=259 cm, r=102 cm). Note that the '1 MeV triton' signal discussed below also has about a 30 % contribution from 3 MeV protons; however, since these two particles have identical gyroradii they should behave alike. 5 refs., 5 figs