Teddy Craciunescu - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Teddy Craciunescu

Research paper thumbnail of Detection of changes in the dynamics of thermonuclear plasmas to improve the prediction of disruptions

Nonlinear Dynamics, Oct 31, 2022

In particular circumstances, nonlinear systems can collapse suddenly and abruptly. Anomalous dete... more In particular circumstances, nonlinear systems can collapse suddenly and abruptly. Anomalous detection is therefore an important task. Unfortunately, many phenomena occurring in complex systems out of equilibrium, such as disruptions in tokamak thermonuclear plasmas, cannot be modelled from first principles in real time compatible form and therefore data driven, machine learning techniques are often deployed. A typical issue, for training these tools, is the choice of the most adequate examples. Determining the intervals, in which the anomalous behaviours manifest themselves, is consequently a challenging but essential objective. In this paper a series of methods are deployed to determine when the plasma dynamics of the tokamak configuration varies, indicating the onset of drifts towards a form of collapse called disruption. The techniques rely on changes in various quantities derived from the time series of the main signals: from the embedding dimensions to the pr 1 operties of recurrence plots and to indicators of transition to chaotic dynamics. The methods, being mathematically completely independent, provide quite robust indications about the intervals, in which the various signals manifest a predisruptive behaviour. Consequently, the signal samples, to be used for supervised machine learning predictors, can be defined precisely, on the basis of the plasma dynamics. This information can improve significantly not only the performance of machine learning classifiers but also the physical understanding of the phenomenon.

Research paper thumbnail of Detecting causal relations in time series with the new cross Markov Matrix technique

Nonlinear Dynamics, 2021

Nowadays, scientists are increasingly asked to investigate problems, which require the analysis o... more Nowadays, scientists are increasingly asked to investigate problems, which require the analysis of irregular, chaotic, non-stationary and corrupted time series. Assessing the causal relations between such signals is particularly challenging and, in many instances, interventions and experiments are impossible or impractical. The present work is a contribution to the development of indicators to quantify the mutual influences between time series. The criterion is called Cross Markov Matrix and belongs to the strand of techniques based on the conversion of time series into complex networks and the subsequent analysis of their topological properties. The proposed indicator is quite competitive with the available tools and can complement them very effectively. Indeed, all techniques have their strong and weak points and therefore corroborating the conclusions with mathematically independent methods is a recommended practice. The properties of the Cross Markov Matrix have been investigated with the help of a systematic series of numerical tests using synthetic data. The potential of the approach is then substantiated by the analysis of various real-life examples, ranging from environmental and global climate problems to the mutual influence between media coverage of Brexit and the pound-euro exchange rate.

Research paper thumbnail of Causality Detection Methods Applied to the Investigation of Malaria Epidemics

Entropy, 2019

Malaria, a disease with major health and socio-economic impacts, is driven by multiple factors, i... more Malaria, a disease with major health and socio-economic impacts, is driven by multiple factors, including a complex interaction with various climatic variables. In this paper, five methods developed for inferring causal relations between dynamic processes based on the information encapsulated in time series are applied on cases previously studied in literature by means of statistical methods. The causality detection techniques investigated in the paper are: a version of the kernel Granger causality, transfer entropy, recurrence plot, causal decomposition and complex networks. The methods provide coherent results giving a quite good confidence in the conclusions.

Research paper thumbnail of Excitation of Alfvén eigenmodes by fusion-born alpha-particles in D-3He plasmas on JET

Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, 2022

Alfvén eigenmode (AE) instabilities driven by alpha-particles have been observed in D-3He fusion ... more Alfvén eigenmode (AE) instabilities driven by alpha-particles have been observed in D-3He fusion experiments on the Joint European Torus (JET) with the ITER-like wall. For the efficient generation of fusion alpha-particles from D-3He fusion reaction, the three-ion radio frequency scenario was used to accelerate the neutral beam injection 100 keV deuterons to higher energies in the core of mixed D-3He plasmas at high concentrations of 3He. A large variety of fast-ion driven magnetohydrodynamic modes were observed, including the elliptical Alfvén eigenmodes (EAEs) with mode numbers n = −1 and axisymmetric modes with n = 0 in the frequency range of EAEs. The simultaneous observation of these modes indicates the presence of rather strong alpha-particle population in the plasma with a ‘bump-on-tail’ shaped velocity distribution. Linear stability analysis and Fokker–Planck calculations support the observations. Experimental evidence of the AEs excitation by fusion-born alpha-particles in ...

Research paper thumbnail of Fusion product measurements by nuclear diagnostics in the Joint European Torus deuterium–tritium 2 campaign (invited)

Review of Scientific Instruments

A new deuterium–tritium experimental, DTE2, campaign has been conducted at the Joint European Tor... more A new deuterium–tritium experimental, DTE2, campaign has been conducted at the Joint European Torus (JET) between August 2021 and late December 2021. Motivated by significant enhancements in the past decade at JET, such as the ITER-like wall and enhanced auxiliary heating power, the campaign achieved a new fusion energy world record and performed a broad range of fundamental experiments to inform ITER physics scenarios and operations. New capabilities in the area of fusion product measurements by nuclear diagnostics were available as a result of a decade long enhancement program. These have been tested for the first time in DTE2 and a concise overview is provided here. Confined alpha particle measurements by gamma-ray spectroscopy were successfully demonstrated, albeit with limitations at neutron rates higher than some 1017 n/s. High resolution neutron spectroscopy measurements with the magnetic proton recoil instrument were complemented by novel data from a set of synthetic diamond...

Research paper thumbnail of Validation of realistic Monte Carlo plasma gamma-ray source on JET discharges

Nuclear Fusion

A novel modelling methodology has been developed for the creation of a realistic plasma gamma-ray... more A novel modelling methodology has been developed for the creation of a realistic plasma gamma-ray source for Monte Carlo transport simulations in the tokamak JET. The methodology couples the TRANSP code for plasma transport calculations with the MCNP Monte Carlo particle transport code, thus connecting plasma physics with gamma-ray transport. This paper presents the validation of the developed source methodology by comparing calculated gamma-ray spectra with measurements performed at JET. The validation focuses on gamma-ray spectra measured by the tangential gamma-ray spectrometer during two JET three ion RF scenario discharges, performed in the JET 2019 deuterium experimental campaign. For validation the calculated plasma gamma-ray spectrum was combined with the neutron induced prompt gamma-ray background, originating in the vacuum vessel, and scaled to absolute values calculating the total number of plasma gamma-ray and neutron emitting reactions. The comparison between calculated...

Research paper thumbnail of L-H Transition Studies at JET: H, D, He and T

28th IAEA Fusion Energy Conference (FEC 2020), 2021

Research paper thumbnail of Detection of Changes in the Dynamics of Thermonuclear Plasmas to Improve the Prediction of Disruptions

In particular circumstances, nonlinear systems can collapse suddenly and abruptly. Anomalous dete... more In particular circumstances, nonlinear systems can collapse suddenly and abruptly. Anomalous detection is therefore an important task. Unfortunately, many phenomena occurring in complex systems out of equilibrium, such as disruptions in tokamak thermonuclear plasmas, cannot be modelled from first principles in real time compatible form and therefore data driven, machine learning techniques are often deployed. A typical issue, for training these tools, is the choice of the most adequate examples. Determining the intervals, in which the anomalous behaviours manifest themselves, is consequently a challenging but essential objective. In this paper a series of methods are deployed to determine when the plasma dynamics of the tokamak configuration varies, indicating the onset of drifts towards a form of collapse called disruption. The techniques rely on changes in various quantities derived from the time series of the main signals: from the embedding dimensions to the properties of recurr...

Research paper thumbnail of Phillips-Tikhonov regularization with a priori information for neutron emission tomographic reconstruction on Joint European Torus

Review of Scientific Instruments, 2015

A method of tomographic reconstruction of the neutron emissivity in the poloidal cross section of... more A method of tomographic reconstruction of the neutron emissivity in the poloidal cross section of the Joint European Torus (JET, Culham, UK) tokamak was developed. Due to very limited data set (two projection angles, 19 lines of sight only) provided by the neutron emission profile monitor (KN3 neutron camera), the reconstruction is an ill-posed inverse problem. The aim of this work consists in making a contribution to the development of reliable plasma tomography reconstruction methods that could be routinely used at JET tokamak. The proposed method is based on Phillips-Tikhonov regularization and incorporates a priori knowledge of the shape of normalized neutron emissivity profile. For the purpose of the optimal selection of the regularization parameters, the shape of normalized neutron emissivity profile is approximated by the shape of normalized electron density profile measured by LIDAR or high resolution Thomson scattering JET diagnostics. In contrast with some previously developed methods of ill-posed plasma tomography reconstruction problem, the developed algorithms do not include any post-processing of the obtained solution and the physical constrains on the solution are imposed during the regularization process. The accuracy of the method is at first evaluated by several tests with synthetic data based on various plasma neutron emissivity models (phantoms). Then, the method is applied to the neutron emissivity reconstruction for JET D plasma discharge #85100. It is demonstrated that this method shows good performance and reliability and it can be routinely used for plasma neutron emissivity reconstruction on JET. [

Research paper thumbnail of Evidence for Alfvén eigenmodes driven by alpha particles in D-3He fusion experiments on JET

Nuclear Fusion, 2021

Alfvén eigenmodes (AEs) driven by energetic alpha particles can lead to enhanced fast ion transpo... more Alfvén eigenmodes (AEs) driven by energetic alpha particles can lead to enhanced fast ion transport and losses, thereby degrading the plasma performance in ITER and future magnetic confinement fusion reactors. Unexpectedly, AEs with negative toroidal mode numbers, which are currently not considered for ITER, were observed in dedicated experiments with fusion-born alpha particles on the tokamak Joint European Torus (JET). The paper provides evidence for a complex interplay between fast ions, monster sawtooth crashes and AEs. Our results highlight the need for an improved description of the synergies between different fast ion phenomena in future burning plasmas.

Research paper thumbnail of Determination of isotope ratio in the divertor of JET-ILW by high-resolution Hα spectroscopy: H-D experiment and implications for D-T experiment

Nuclear Fusion, 2019

The data of the H alpha high-resolution spectroscopy, collected on the multiple lines of sight, w... more The data of the H alpha high-resolution spectroscopy, collected on the multiple lines of sight, which cover the entire divertor space in poloidal cross-section, during the recent hydrogen-deuterium ...

Research paper thumbnail of On the effects of missing chords and systematic errors on a new tomographic method for JET bolometry

Fusion Engineering and Design, 2019

The accurate quantification of the emitted radiation is an important element in the interpretatio... more The accurate quantification of the emitted radiation is an important element in the interpretation of Tokamak performance and in the design of experiments. The spatial distribution of the total emitted radiation is typically determined with quite sophisticated tomographic techniques. On JET, a new tomographic inversion method, based on the Maximum Likelihood, has been very recently developed for this purpose. Its main innovative aspect is the analytic estimate of the confidence intervals in the emitted radiation levels. The present paper shows that the method is able to provide a reliable evaluation of the uncertainties of reconstructions. The impact of the data uncertainties on the reconstructed emissivity distributions in important regions of the main chamber is also evaluated. The resilience of the results in case of missing LOS is also analysed. The method is computationally quite fast and can therefore be applied on a routine basis.

Research paper thumbnail of Recent Applications of 3-Ion ICRF Schemes on ASDEX-Upgrade and JET in Support of ITER

28th IAEA Fusion Energy Conference (FEC 2020), 2020

Research paper thumbnail of Dealing with artefacts In JET iterative bolometric tomography using masks

Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, 2022

Bolometric tomography is a widely applied technique to infer important indirect quantities in mag... more Bolometric tomography is a widely applied technique to infer important indirect quantities in magnetically confined plasmas, such as the total radiated power. However, being an inverse and ill-posed problem, the tomographic algorithms have to be carefully steered to converge on the most approriate solutions and often specialists have to balance the quality of the obtained reconstructions between the core and the edge of the plasma. Given the topology of the emission and the layout of the diagnostics in practically all devices, the tomographic inversions of bolometry are often affected by artefacts, which can influence derived quantities and specific studies based on the reproduced tomograms, such as power balance studies and benchmarching of gyrokinetic simulations. This article deals with the introduction of a simple, but very efficient methodology. It is based on constraining the solution of the tomographic inversions by using a specific estimate of the initial solution, built wit...

Research paper thumbnail of Alfvén cascade eigenmodes above the TAE-frequency and localization of Alfvén modes in D- 3 He plasmas on JET

Nuclear Fusion, 2021

Various types of Alfvén Eigenmodes (AEs) have been destabilized by fast ions over a broad frequen... more Various types of Alfvén Eigenmodes (AEs) have been destabilized by fast ions over a broad frequency range from ~80 kHz to ~700 kHz in a series of JET experiments in mixed D-3He plasmas heated with the three-ion ICRF scenario [M. Nocente et al., Nucl. Fusion 60, 124006 (2020)]. In this paper, we identify the radial localization of AEs using an X-mode reflectometer, a multiline interferometer and soft X-ray diagnostics. The analysis is focused on the most representative example of these measurements in JET pulse #95691, where two different types of Alfvén cascade (AC) eigenmodes were observed. These modes originate from the presence of a local minimum of the safety factor qmin. In addition to ACs with frequencies below the frequency of toroidal Alfvén eigenmodes (TAEs), ACs with frequencies above the TAE frequency were destabilized by energetic ions. Both low- (f ≈80-180 kHz) and high-frequency (f ≈ 330-450 kHz) ACs were localized in the central regions of the plasma. The characterist...

Research paper thumbnail of EFD-P(13)25 Influence of Plasma Diagnostics and Constraints on the Quality of Equilibrium Reconstructions on JET

The free boundary equilibrium problem, described by the Grad-Shafranov equation in toroidal geome... more The free boundary equilibrium problem, described by the Grad-Shafranov equation in toroidal geometry and axisymmetric configurations, is mathematically very ill posed. Therefore the quality of the equilibrium reconstruction depends sensitively on the measurements used as inputs and on the imposed constraints. In this paper, it is shown how the different diagnostics (Magnetics Measurements, Polarimetry and Motional Stark Effect), together with the edge current density and plasma pressure constraints, can have a significant impact on the quality of the equilibrium on JET. Results show that both the Polarimetry and Motional Stark Effect internal diagnostics are crucial in order to obtain reasonable safety factor profiles. The impact of the edge current density constraint is significant when the plasma is in the H-mode of confinement. In this plasma scenario the strike point positions and the plasma last closed flux surface can change even by centimetres, depending on the edge constraints, with a significant impact on the remapping of the equilibrium-dependent diagnostics and of pedestal physics studies. On the other hand and quite counter intuitively, the pressure constraint can severely affect the quality of the magnetic reconstructions in the core. These trends have been verified with several JET discharges and consistent results have been found. An interpretation of these results, as an interplay between degrees of freedom and available measurements, is provided.

Research paper thumbnail of Control and data acquisition software upgrade for JET gamma-ray diagnostics

The Joint European Torus (JET), the largest magnetic confinement plasma physics experiment in ope... more The Joint European Torus (JET), the largest magnetic confinement plasma physics experiment in operation, has a large amount of key diagnostics for physics exploration and machine operation, which include several Gamma-Ray Diagnostics. The Gamma-Ray Spectrometer (GRS), Gamma Camera (GC) and Gamma-Ray Spectrometer Upgrade (GSU) diagnostics have similar Control and Data Acquisition Systems (CDAQ) based on the Advanced Telecommunication Computing Architecture standard, featuring Field Programmable Gate Arrays for data processing and management. During past JET-EP2 enhancements, the GRS and GC diagnostics were successfully installed and commissioned. However, the installed CDAQ software that interfaces these diagnostics to JET Control and Data Acquisition System is different, requiring higher maintenance costs. Benefiting from the Gamma Camera Upgrade (GCU) and new GSU installation and commissioning, the upgrading of the software and controller hardware used in the GRS and GC was evaluat...

Research paper thumbnail of A maximum likelihood tomographic method applied to JET gamma ray emission during the current quench

Fusion Engineering and Design, 2021

Research paper thumbnail of Current Research into Applications of Tomography for Fusion Diagnostics

Journal of Fusion Energy, 2018

Retrieving spatial distribution of plasma emissivity from line integrated measurements on tokamak... more Retrieving spatial distribution of plasma emissivity from line integrated measurements on tokamaks presents a challenging task due to ill-posedness of the tomography problem and limited number of the lines of sight. Modern methods of plasma tomography therefore implement a-priori information as well as constraints, in particular some form of penalisation of complexity. In this contribution, the current tomography methods under development (Tikhonov regularisation, Bayesian methods and neural networks) are briefly explained taking into account their potential for integration into the fusion reactor diagnostics. In particular, current development of the Minimum Fisher Regularisation method is exemplified with respect to real-time reconstruction capability, combination with spectral unfolding and other prospective tasks.

Research paper thumbnail of CeBr 3 –based detector for gamma-ray spectrometer upgrade at JET

Fusion Engineering and Design, 2017

One of the important techniques used at JET for studying fast ions is based on measurements of ga... more One of the important techniques used at JET for studying fast ions is based on measurements of gamma rays which are produced as a result of nuclear reactions between ions and plasma impurities. The ...

Research paper thumbnail of Detection of changes in the dynamics of thermonuclear plasmas to improve the prediction of disruptions

Nonlinear Dynamics, Oct 31, 2022

In particular circumstances, nonlinear systems can collapse suddenly and abruptly. Anomalous dete... more In particular circumstances, nonlinear systems can collapse suddenly and abruptly. Anomalous detection is therefore an important task. Unfortunately, many phenomena occurring in complex systems out of equilibrium, such as disruptions in tokamak thermonuclear plasmas, cannot be modelled from first principles in real time compatible form and therefore data driven, machine learning techniques are often deployed. A typical issue, for training these tools, is the choice of the most adequate examples. Determining the intervals, in which the anomalous behaviours manifest themselves, is consequently a challenging but essential objective. In this paper a series of methods are deployed to determine when the plasma dynamics of the tokamak configuration varies, indicating the onset of drifts towards a form of collapse called disruption. The techniques rely on changes in various quantities derived from the time series of the main signals: from the embedding dimensions to the pr 1 operties of recurrence plots and to indicators of transition to chaotic dynamics. The methods, being mathematically completely independent, provide quite robust indications about the intervals, in which the various signals manifest a predisruptive behaviour. Consequently, the signal samples, to be used for supervised machine learning predictors, can be defined precisely, on the basis of the plasma dynamics. This information can improve significantly not only the performance of machine learning classifiers but also the physical understanding of the phenomenon.

Research paper thumbnail of Detecting causal relations in time series with the new cross Markov Matrix technique

Nonlinear Dynamics, 2021

Nowadays, scientists are increasingly asked to investigate problems, which require the analysis o... more Nowadays, scientists are increasingly asked to investigate problems, which require the analysis of irregular, chaotic, non-stationary and corrupted time series. Assessing the causal relations between such signals is particularly challenging and, in many instances, interventions and experiments are impossible or impractical. The present work is a contribution to the development of indicators to quantify the mutual influences between time series. The criterion is called Cross Markov Matrix and belongs to the strand of techniques based on the conversion of time series into complex networks and the subsequent analysis of their topological properties. The proposed indicator is quite competitive with the available tools and can complement them very effectively. Indeed, all techniques have their strong and weak points and therefore corroborating the conclusions with mathematically independent methods is a recommended practice. The properties of the Cross Markov Matrix have been investigated with the help of a systematic series of numerical tests using synthetic data. The potential of the approach is then substantiated by the analysis of various real-life examples, ranging from environmental and global climate problems to the mutual influence between media coverage of Brexit and the pound-euro exchange rate.

Research paper thumbnail of Causality Detection Methods Applied to the Investigation of Malaria Epidemics

Entropy, 2019

Malaria, a disease with major health and socio-economic impacts, is driven by multiple factors, i... more Malaria, a disease with major health and socio-economic impacts, is driven by multiple factors, including a complex interaction with various climatic variables. In this paper, five methods developed for inferring causal relations between dynamic processes based on the information encapsulated in time series are applied on cases previously studied in literature by means of statistical methods. The causality detection techniques investigated in the paper are: a version of the kernel Granger causality, transfer entropy, recurrence plot, causal decomposition and complex networks. The methods provide coherent results giving a quite good confidence in the conclusions.

Research paper thumbnail of Excitation of Alfvén eigenmodes by fusion-born alpha-particles in D-3He plasmas on JET

Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, 2022

Alfvén eigenmode (AE) instabilities driven by alpha-particles have been observed in D-3He fusion ... more Alfvén eigenmode (AE) instabilities driven by alpha-particles have been observed in D-3He fusion experiments on the Joint European Torus (JET) with the ITER-like wall. For the efficient generation of fusion alpha-particles from D-3He fusion reaction, the three-ion radio frequency scenario was used to accelerate the neutral beam injection 100 keV deuterons to higher energies in the core of mixed D-3He plasmas at high concentrations of 3He. A large variety of fast-ion driven magnetohydrodynamic modes were observed, including the elliptical Alfvén eigenmodes (EAEs) with mode numbers n = −1 and axisymmetric modes with n = 0 in the frequency range of EAEs. The simultaneous observation of these modes indicates the presence of rather strong alpha-particle population in the plasma with a ‘bump-on-tail’ shaped velocity distribution. Linear stability analysis and Fokker–Planck calculations support the observations. Experimental evidence of the AEs excitation by fusion-born alpha-particles in ...

Research paper thumbnail of Fusion product measurements by nuclear diagnostics in the Joint European Torus deuterium–tritium 2 campaign (invited)

Review of Scientific Instruments

A new deuterium–tritium experimental, DTE2, campaign has been conducted at the Joint European Tor... more A new deuterium–tritium experimental, DTE2, campaign has been conducted at the Joint European Torus (JET) between August 2021 and late December 2021. Motivated by significant enhancements in the past decade at JET, such as the ITER-like wall and enhanced auxiliary heating power, the campaign achieved a new fusion energy world record and performed a broad range of fundamental experiments to inform ITER physics scenarios and operations. New capabilities in the area of fusion product measurements by nuclear diagnostics were available as a result of a decade long enhancement program. These have been tested for the first time in DTE2 and a concise overview is provided here. Confined alpha particle measurements by gamma-ray spectroscopy were successfully demonstrated, albeit with limitations at neutron rates higher than some 1017 n/s. High resolution neutron spectroscopy measurements with the magnetic proton recoil instrument were complemented by novel data from a set of synthetic diamond...

Research paper thumbnail of Validation of realistic Monte Carlo plasma gamma-ray source on JET discharges

Nuclear Fusion

A novel modelling methodology has been developed for the creation of a realistic plasma gamma-ray... more A novel modelling methodology has been developed for the creation of a realistic plasma gamma-ray source for Monte Carlo transport simulations in the tokamak JET. The methodology couples the TRANSP code for plasma transport calculations with the MCNP Monte Carlo particle transport code, thus connecting plasma physics with gamma-ray transport. This paper presents the validation of the developed source methodology by comparing calculated gamma-ray spectra with measurements performed at JET. The validation focuses on gamma-ray spectra measured by the tangential gamma-ray spectrometer during two JET three ion RF scenario discharges, performed in the JET 2019 deuterium experimental campaign. For validation the calculated plasma gamma-ray spectrum was combined with the neutron induced prompt gamma-ray background, originating in the vacuum vessel, and scaled to absolute values calculating the total number of plasma gamma-ray and neutron emitting reactions. The comparison between calculated...

Research paper thumbnail of L-H Transition Studies at JET: H, D, He and T

28th IAEA Fusion Energy Conference (FEC 2020), 2021

Research paper thumbnail of Detection of Changes in the Dynamics of Thermonuclear Plasmas to Improve the Prediction of Disruptions

In particular circumstances, nonlinear systems can collapse suddenly and abruptly. Anomalous dete... more In particular circumstances, nonlinear systems can collapse suddenly and abruptly. Anomalous detection is therefore an important task. Unfortunately, many phenomena occurring in complex systems out of equilibrium, such as disruptions in tokamak thermonuclear plasmas, cannot be modelled from first principles in real time compatible form and therefore data driven, machine learning techniques are often deployed. A typical issue, for training these tools, is the choice of the most adequate examples. Determining the intervals, in which the anomalous behaviours manifest themselves, is consequently a challenging but essential objective. In this paper a series of methods are deployed to determine when the plasma dynamics of the tokamak configuration varies, indicating the onset of drifts towards a form of collapse called disruption. The techniques rely on changes in various quantities derived from the time series of the main signals: from the embedding dimensions to the properties of recurr...

Research paper thumbnail of Phillips-Tikhonov regularization with a priori information for neutron emission tomographic reconstruction on Joint European Torus

Review of Scientific Instruments, 2015

A method of tomographic reconstruction of the neutron emissivity in the poloidal cross section of... more A method of tomographic reconstruction of the neutron emissivity in the poloidal cross section of the Joint European Torus (JET, Culham, UK) tokamak was developed. Due to very limited data set (two projection angles, 19 lines of sight only) provided by the neutron emission profile monitor (KN3 neutron camera), the reconstruction is an ill-posed inverse problem. The aim of this work consists in making a contribution to the development of reliable plasma tomography reconstruction methods that could be routinely used at JET tokamak. The proposed method is based on Phillips-Tikhonov regularization and incorporates a priori knowledge of the shape of normalized neutron emissivity profile. For the purpose of the optimal selection of the regularization parameters, the shape of normalized neutron emissivity profile is approximated by the shape of normalized electron density profile measured by LIDAR or high resolution Thomson scattering JET diagnostics. In contrast with some previously developed methods of ill-posed plasma tomography reconstruction problem, the developed algorithms do not include any post-processing of the obtained solution and the physical constrains on the solution are imposed during the regularization process. The accuracy of the method is at first evaluated by several tests with synthetic data based on various plasma neutron emissivity models (phantoms). Then, the method is applied to the neutron emissivity reconstruction for JET D plasma discharge #85100. It is demonstrated that this method shows good performance and reliability and it can be routinely used for plasma neutron emissivity reconstruction on JET. [

Research paper thumbnail of Evidence for Alfvén eigenmodes driven by alpha particles in D-3He fusion experiments on JET

Nuclear Fusion, 2021

Alfvén eigenmodes (AEs) driven by energetic alpha particles can lead to enhanced fast ion transpo... more Alfvén eigenmodes (AEs) driven by energetic alpha particles can lead to enhanced fast ion transport and losses, thereby degrading the plasma performance in ITER and future magnetic confinement fusion reactors. Unexpectedly, AEs with negative toroidal mode numbers, which are currently not considered for ITER, were observed in dedicated experiments with fusion-born alpha particles on the tokamak Joint European Torus (JET). The paper provides evidence for a complex interplay between fast ions, monster sawtooth crashes and AEs. Our results highlight the need for an improved description of the synergies between different fast ion phenomena in future burning plasmas.

Research paper thumbnail of Determination of isotope ratio in the divertor of JET-ILW by high-resolution Hα spectroscopy: H-D experiment and implications for D-T experiment

Nuclear Fusion, 2019

The data of the H alpha high-resolution spectroscopy, collected on the multiple lines of sight, w... more The data of the H alpha high-resolution spectroscopy, collected on the multiple lines of sight, which cover the entire divertor space in poloidal cross-section, during the recent hydrogen-deuterium ...

Research paper thumbnail of On the effects of missing chords and systematic errors on a new tomographic method for JET bolometry

Fusion Engineering and Design, 2019

The accurate quantification of the emitted radiation is an important element in the interpretatio... more The accurate quantification of the emitted radiation is an important element in the interpretation of Tokamak performance and in the design of experiments. The spatial distribution of the total emitted radiation is typically determined with quite sophisticated tomographic techniques. On JET, a new tomographic inversion method, based on the Maximum Likelihood, has been very recently developed for this purpose. Its main innovative aspect is the analytic estimate of the confidence intervals in the emitted radiation levels. The present paper shows that the method is able to provide a reliable evaluation of the uncertainties of reconstructions. The impact of the data uncertainties on the reconstructed emissivity distributions in important regions of the main chamber is also evaluated. The resilience of the results in case of missing LOS is also analysed. The method is computationally quite fast and can therefore be applied on a routine basis.

Research paper thumbnail of Recent Applications of 3-Ion ICRF Schemes on ASDEX-Upgrade and JET in Support of ITER

28th IAEA Fusion Energy Conference (FEC 2020), 2020

Research paper thumbnail of Dealing with artefacts In JET iterative bolometric tomography using masks

Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, 2022

Bolometric tomography is a widely applied technique to infer important indirect quantities in mag... more Bolometric tomography is a widely applied technique to infer important indirect quantities in magnetically confined plasmas, such as the total radiated power. However, being an inverse and ill-posed problem, the tomographic algorithms have to be carefully steered to converge on the most approriate solutions and often specialists have to balance the quality of the obtained reconstructions between the core and the edge of the plasma. Given the topology of the emission and the layout of the diagnostics in practically all devices, the tomographic inversions of bolometry are often affected by artefacts, which can influence derived quantities and specific studies based on the reproduced tomograms, such as power balance studies and benchmarching of gyrokinetic simulations. This article deals with the introduction of a simple, but very efficient methodology. It is based on constraining the solution of the tomographic inversions by using a specific estimate of the initial solution, built wit...

Research paper thumbnail of Alfvén cascade eigenmodes above the TAE-frequency and localization of Alfvén modes in D- 3 He plasmas on JET

Nuclear Fusion, 2021

Various types of Alfvén Eigenmodes (AEs) have been destabilized by fast ions over a broad frequen... more Various types of Alfvén Eigenmodes (AEs) have been destabilized by fast ions over a broad frequency range from ~80 kHz to ~700 kHz in a series of JET experiments in mixed D-3He plasmas heated with the three-ion ICRF scenario [M. Nocente et al., Nucl. Fusion 60, 124006 (2020)]. In this paper, we identify the radial localization of AEs using an X-mode reflectometer, a multiline interferometer and soft X-ray diagnostics. The analysis is focused on the most representative example of these measurements in JET pulse #95691, where two different types of Alfvén cascade (AC) eigenmodes were observed. These modes originate from the presence of a local minimum of the safety factor qmin. In addition to ACs with frequencies below the frequency of toroidal Alfvén eigenmodes (TAEs), ACs with frequencies above the TAE frequency were destabilized by energetic ions. Both low- (f ≈80-180 kHz) and high-frequency (f ≈ 330-450 kHz) ACs were localized in the central regions of the plasma. The characterist...

Research paper thumbnail of EFD-P(13)25 Influence of Plasma Diagnostics and Constraints on the Quality of Equilibrium Reconstructions on JET

The free boundary equilibrium problem, described by the Grad-Shafranov equation in toroidal geome... more The free boundary equilibrium problem, described by the Grad-Shafranov equation in toroidal geometry and axisymmetric configurations, is mathematically very ill posed. Therefore the quality of the equilibrium reconstruction depends sensitively on the measurements used as inputs and on the imposed constraints. In this paper, it is shown how the different diagnostics (Magnetics Measurements, Polarimetry and Motional Stark Effect), together with the edge current density and plasma pressure constraints, can have a significant impact on the quality of the equilibrium on JET. Results show that both the Polarimetry and Motional Stark Effect internal diagnostics are crucial in order to obtain reasonable safety factor profiles. The impact of the edge current density constraint is significant when the plasma is in the H-mode of confinement. In this plasma scenario the strike point positions and the plasma last closed flux surface can change even by centimetres, depending on the edge constraints, with a significant impact on the remapping of the equilibrium-dependent diagnostics and of pedestal physics studies. On the other hand and quite counter intuitively, the pressure constraint can severely affect the quality of the magnetic reconstructions in the core. These trends have been verified with several JET discharges and consistent results have been found. An interpretation of these results, as an interplay between degrees of freedom and available measurements, is provided.

Research paper thumbnail of Control and data acquisition software upgrade for JET gamma-ray diagnostics

The Joint European Torus (JET), the largest magnetic confinement plasma physics experiment in ope... more The Joint European Torus (JET), the largest magnetic confinement plasma physics experiment in operation, has a large amount of key diagnostics for physics exploration and machine operation, which include several Gamma-Ray Diagnostics. The Gamma-Ray Spectrometer (GRS), Gamma Camera (GC) and Gamma-Ray Spectrometer Upgrade (GSU) diagnostics have similar Control and Data Acquisition Systems (CDAQ) based on the Advanced Telecommunication Computing Architecture standard, featuring Field Programmable Gate Arrays for data processing and management. During past JET-EP2 enhancements, the GRS and GC diagnostics were successfully installed and commissioned. However, the installed CDAQ software that interfaces these diagnostics to JET Control and Data Acquisition System is different, requiring higher maintenance costs. Benefiting from the Gamma Camera Upgrade (GCU) and new GSU installation and commissioning, the upgrading of the software and controller hardware used in the GRS and GC was evaluat...

Research paper thumbnail of A maximum likelihood tomographic method applied to JET gamma ray emission during the current quench

Fusion Engineering and Design, 2021

Research paper thumbnail of Current Research into Applications of Tomography for Fusion Diagnostics

Journal of Fusion Energy, 2018

Retrieving spatial distribution of plasma emissivity from line integrated measurements on tokamak... more Retrieving spatial distribution of plasma emissivity from line integrated measurements on tokamaks presents a challenging task due to ill-posedness of the tomography problem and limited number of the lines of sight. Modern methods of plasma tomography therefore implement a-priori information as well as constraints, in particular some form of penalisation of complexity. In this contribution, the current tomography methods under development (Tikhonov regularisation, Bayesian methods and neural networks) are briefly explained taking into account their potential for integration into the fusion reactor diagnostics. In particular, current development of the Minimum Fisher Regularisation method is exemplified with respect to real-time reconstruction capability, combination with spectral unfolding and other prospective tasks.

Research paper thumbnail of CeBr 3 –based detector for gamma-ray spectrometer upgrade at JET

Fusion Engineering and Design, 2017

One of the important techniques used at JET for studying fast ions is based on measurements of ga... more One of the important techniques used at JET for studying fast ions is based on measurements of gamma rays which are produced as a result of nuclear reactions between ions and plasma impurities. The ...