Comparison of dispersion model of magneto-acoustic cyclotron instability with experimental observation of³He ion cyclotron emission on JT-60U

The Magneto-acoustic Cyclotron Instability (MCI) is a possible emission mechanism for Ion Cyclotron Emissions (ICEs). A dispersion model of the MCI driven by a drifting-ring-type ion velocity distribution has been proposed. In this study, the model was compared with the experimental observations of ³He ICEs [ICEs(³He)] on JT-60U. For this purpose, at first, velocity distributions of deuterium–deuterium fusion produced fast ³He ions at the time of an appearance of the ICE(³He) were evaluated by using a fast ion orbit following code under a realistic condition. The calculated distribution at the edge of the plasma on the midplane on the low field side is shown to have an inverted population and strong anisotropy. This distribution can be reasonably approximated by the drifting-ring-type distribution. Next, dispersions of the MCIs driven by the drifting-ring-type distribution were compared with those of observed ICEs(³He). The comparison shows that toroidal wavenumbers and frequencies of the calculated MCIs agree with those of the observed ICEs(³He).