Neutral beam injection

Neutral beam injection heats a fusion plasma and can drive current by sending energetic neutral atoms into it. The atoms penetrate the magnetic field, become ionized, and transfer energy and momentum to the plasma.

Connect

Neutral beam injector: A device that produces, accelerates, neutralizes, and directs energetic atoms into a plasma. Its ion source, accelerator, and neutralizer create the beam that reaches the plasma.
Magnetic confinement fusion: Fusion research that uses magnetic fields to confine hot plasma long enough for fusion reactions. Neutral beams are auxiliary systems for heating and controlling magnetically confined fusion plasmas.
ITER: An international experimental tokamak under construction in France to demonstrate burning-plasma operation. ITER includes neutral beam systems among its auxiliary heating methods.
Electron cyclotron resonance heating: A plasma heating method that transfers energy from microwaves to electrons at their cyclotron frequency. Unlike neutral beams, it deposits energy through resonant electromagnetic waves rather than fast atoms.
Charge exchange neutralization: A process in which fast ions capture electrons from gas atoms and become fast neutral atoms. It converts the accelerated ion beam into particles that can cross magnetic field lines.
Tokamak: A toroidal device that confines plasma using strong magnetic fields, including a field generated by plasma current. Tokamaks commonly use neutral beams for heating and current drive.
JET: The Joint European Torus, a large tokamak that operated at Culham, United Kingdom, from 1983 to 2023. JET used neutral beam injection to heat deuterium and tritium plasmas.
Ion cyclotron resonance heating: A plasma heating method that uses radio-frequency waves near ion cyclotron frequencies. It couples wave energy to ions instead of injecting neutral particles.
Beam stopping: The slowing and capture of energetic particles as they travel through a material or plasma. It determines how deeply injected atoms penetrate before transferring their energy.
Plasma: A state of matter composed of charged particles whose collective behavior is strongly affected by electromagnetic fields. The injected atoms ionize into the plasma that absorbs their energy.