The particle tracking code BBCNI for large negative ion beams and their diagnostics

Abstract

Abstract Heating and current drive in the next generation tokamak ITER requires the use of large and powerful neutral beams, generated by a precursor ion beam from an ion source around 1 m × 2 m in cross-section. To avoid energy losses and component damage, strict requirements are placed on the divergence and uniformity of this ion beam, which is comprised of many individual beamlets. Understanding, controlling, and predicting the behaviour of these large ion beams requires knowledge of these individual beamlets and their interactions with one another. This is hindered by available experimental diagnostics on these large beams typically only having access to volume averaged information. A forward simulation of beam diagnostics would allow the connection of experimental results with otherwise unobtainable individual beamlet properties. The particle tracking and ray tracing code Bavarian Beam Code for Negative Ions was developed for this reason, and takes into account the interaction of individual component beamlets with whole-beam diagnostics to produce synthetic data that can be compared with experimental results. In this work a significantly reworked and upgraded version of the code is presented and example results are given and analysed for the ITER relevant test facility BATMAN Upgrade. It is shown how the simulation can recreate experimental results, and that one must consider the whole beam in order to do so. The impact of beamlet mixing on beam emission spectroscopy results is shown, as is the importance of long range magnetic fields on the beam transport. The capabilities and limitations of the code are discussed with a view toward application to ITER size ion sources.