Beam ion losses due to energetic particle geodesic acoustic modes

Abstract

We report the first experimental observations of fast-ion loss in a tokamak due to energetic particle driven geodesic acoustic modes (EGAMs). A fast-ion loss detector installed on the DIII-D tokamak observes bursts of beam ion losses coherent with the EGAM frequency. The EGAM activity results in a significant loss of beam ions, comparable to the first orbit losses. The pitch angles and energies of the measured fast-ion losses agree with predictions from a full orbit simulation code SPIRAL, which includes scattering and slowing-down.