Speaker
Description
In next-step fusion devices, the physics of energetic particles (EP) will play a prominent role in distinct ways. For fusion power plants, such as DEMO-type or first-of-a-kind devices [1, 2], the self-organization of an alpha-particle heated plasma strongly depends on the transport and cross- scale coupling properties of the EP-driven meso- and background-driven micro-scale fluctuations mediated by the alpha particle population. In contrast, for neutron technology oriented high neutron flux devices, such as the European volumetric neutron source (VNS) [3], the beam-target physics [4] requires strong external ion injection and high electron heating (e.g. 42.5 MW of neutral beam heating and 8 MW according to the present VNS design point). The resulting anisotropic slowing down distribution dominates the overall properties of the plasma scenario, as it strongly influences the current profile, rotation, and beam-target fusion rate.
In this contribution, the challenges of EP physics in these future devices in relation to present-day experiments and ITER will be discussed. In order to highlight their differences, global quantities such as heating power density, EP pressure fractions and equilibrium distribution functions will be compared. Stability and transport of alpha and beam ions due to Alfvénic modes are investi- gated based on predictive scenario modelling [5, 2]. We use the EP-Stability workflow [6] to scan a wide range of toroidal Alfvén eigenmodes (TAEs), beta-induced Alfvén eigenmodes (BAEs) and reversed shear Alfvén eigenmodes (RSAEs) in an hierarchical way, in order to find stability bound- aries. Realistic NBI sources and distributions as given by BBNBI/ASCOT [13, 14] are used in order to accurately construct the anisotropic distribution functions. In order to assess the related quasi-linear transport, including the possible interaction between the different AE branches, we use the EP transport code ATEP-3D [7, 8, 9] based on the phase space zonal structure transport theory [10, 11, 12].
Authors:
Ph. Lauber$^{1,6}$, M. Falessi$^2$, T. Hayward-Schneider$^1$, V.-A. Popa$^1$, T. Sterkl$^1$, R.Stucchi$^1$, F. Zonca$^2$, C. Bourdelle$^{3,6}$, F. Maviglia$^6$, A. Quartararo$^{6,10}$, M. Siccinio$^1$, P. Zumbolo$^6$, C. De Piccoli$^7$, K. Särkimäki$^5$, A. Snicker$^{4,5}$, P. Vincenzi$^{7,8}$, M. Weiland$^1$,E. Bray$^9$, T. Luda$^1$, E. Fable$^1$, C. Angioni$^1$
$^1$ Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik, Boltzmannstraße 2, D-85748 Garching, Germany email: philipp.lauber@ipp.mpg.de
$^2$ ENEA, Fusion and Nuclear Safety Department, C. R. Frascati, I-00044 Frascati (Rome), Italy
$^3$ CEA, IRFM, F-13108 St-Paul-Lez-Durance, France
$^4$ Aalto University, Department of Applied Physics, P.O. Box 14100, FI-00076 AALTO, Finland
$^5$ VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd., Espoo, Finland
$^6$ EUROfusion Consortium, Garching bei München, Germany
$^7$ Consorzio RFX (CNR, ENEA, INFN, University of Padova, Acciaierie Venete), Padova, Italy
$^8$ Institute for Plasma Science and Technology, National Research Council, Padova, Italy
$^9$ NEMO group, Dipartimento Energia, Politecnico di Torino, Italy
$^{10}$ Department of Engineering, University of Palermo, Italy
References:
[1] Coleman M, Zohm H, Bourdelle C, Maviglia F, Pearce A, Siccinio M, Spagnuolo A and Wiesen S 2025 Nuclear Fusion 65 036039
[2] C Bourdelle et al 2026 in preparation
[3] M Siccinio et al 2026 51th EPS Conference on Plasma Physics oral
[4] M Maslov et al 2023 Nuclear Fusion 63 112002
[5] E Bray et al 2026 51th EPS Conference on Plasma Physics oral
[6] Popa V A, Lauber P, Hayward-Schneider T, Schneider M, Hoenen O and Pinches S 2023 Nuclear Fusion 63 126008
[7] Lauber P, Falessi M, Meng G, Hayward-Schneider T, Popa V A, Zonca F and Schneider M 2024 Nuclear Fusion 64 096010
[8] Meng G, Lauber P, Lu Z, Bergmann A and Schneider M 2024 Nuclear Fusion
[9] T Sterkl et al 2026 TMEP Meeting, Lausanne 2026 poster
[10] Falessi M V and Zonca F 2019 Physics of Plasmas 26 022305
[11] Zonca F, Chen L, Falessi M V and Qiu Z 2021 Journal of Physics: Conference Series 1785 012005
[12] Falessi M V, Chen L, Qiu Z and Zonca F 2023 New Journal of Physics 25 123035
[13] Asunta O, Govenius J, Budny R, Gorelenkova M, Tardini G, Kurki-Suonio T, Salmi A and SipilÃC S 2015 Computer Physics Communications 188 33–46
[14] Hirvijoki E, Asunta O, Koskela T, Kurki-Suonio T, Miettunen J, Sipilä S, Snicker A and Äkäslompolo S 2014 Computer Physics Communications 185 1310–1321