I-mode pedestal relaxation events in the Alcator C-Mod and ASDEX Upgrade tokamaks

In some conditions, I-mode plasmas can feature pedestal relaxation events (PREs) that transiently enhance the energy reaching the divertor target plates. To shed light on their appearance, characteristics and energy reaching the divertor targets, a comparative study between two tokamaks – Alcator C-Mod and ASDEX Upgrade – is carried out. It is found that PREs appear only in a subset of I-mode discharges, mainly when the plasma is close to the H-mode transition. Also, a growing oscillating precursor before the PRE onset is observed in the region close to the separatrix in both devices, and a discussion on a possible triggering mechanism is outlined. The PRE relative energy loss from the confined region is found to increase with decreasing pedestal top collisionality ν* ped. Similarly, also the relative electron temperature drop at the pedestal top, which is related to the conductive energy loss, rises with decreasing ν* ped. Based on these relations, the PRE relative energy loss in future devices such as DEMO and ARC is estimated. Finally, the divertor peak energy fluence due to the PRE is measured on each device. Those values are then compared to the model introduced in [1] for type-I ELMs. The model is shown to provide an upper boundary for PRE energy fluence data, while a lower boundary is found by dividing the model by three. These two boundaries are used to make projections of the PRE divertor energy fluence to DEMO and ARC.

Pellet triggering of edge localized modes in low collisionality pedestals at DIII-D

Edge localized modes (ELMs) are triggered using deuterium pellets injected into plasmas with ITER-relevant low collisionality pedestals, and the resulting peak ELM energy fluence is reduced by approximately 25-50% relative to natural ELMs destabilized at similar pedestal pressures. Cryogenically frozen deuterium pellets are injected from the low-field side of the DIII-D tokamak at frequencies lower than the natural ELM frequency, and heat flux is measured by infrared cameras. Ideal MHD pedestal stability calculations show that without pellet injection, these low collisionality pedestals were limited by their current density (peeling-limited) rather than their pressure gradient (ballooning-limited). ELM triggering success correlates strongly with pellet mass, consistent with the theory that a large pressure perturbation is required to trigger an ELM in low collisionality discharges that are far from the ballooning stability boundary. For sufficiently large pellets, both instantaneous and time-integrated ELM energy deposition measured by infrared cameras is reduced with respect to naturally occurring ELMs at the inner strike point, which is the position where it is largest for natural ELMs. Energy fluence at the outer strike point is less effected. Cameras observing both heat flux and D-alpha emission often find significant toroidally asymmetric striations in the outboard far scrape-off layer resulting from ELMs that are triggered by pellets. Toroidal asymmetries at the inner strike point are similar between natural and pellet-triggered ELMs, suggesting that the reduction in peak heat flux and total fluence at that location is robust for the conditions reported here.

Decontamination of Powdery Foods Using an Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) Device for Practical Application

Controlling microbial problems when processing seeds and powdered foods is difficult due to their low water activity, irregular surfaces, and opaqueness. Moreover, existing thermal processing can readily cause various undesirable changes in sensory properties. Intense pulsed light (IPL) can be effective in nonthermal processing, and so two xenon lamps were attached to the sides of a self-designed cyclone type of pilot-scale IPL device. Each lamp was connected to its own power supply, and the following treatment conditions were applied to four sample types: lamp DC voltage of 1800–4200 V, pulse width of 0.5–1.0 ms, frequency of 2 Hz, and treatment time of 1–5 min. This device achieved reductions of 0.45, 0.66, and 0.88 log CFU/mL for ground black pepper, red pepper, and embryo buds of rice, respectively, under a total energy fluence of 12.31 J/cm2. Meanwhile, >3-log reductions were achieved for sesame seed samples under a total energy fluence of 11.26 J/cm2. In addition, analyses of color changes, water activity, and moisture content revealed no significant differences between the control and IPL-treated samples. These findings indicate that IPL treatment may be considered a feasible sterilization method for seeds and powdered foods.

Study of the volume reduction impact on secondary photons emergent from flattening filter for high radiotherapy quality

This study aims to investigate and evaluate the secondary photons characterizations under flattening filter (FF) for high radiotherapy quality in terms of fluence, energy fluence, energy fluence distribution, spectral distribution and angular spread distribution of secondary photons, which are mainly coming from primary collimator originated in the whole Linac head. However, the flattening filter illuminates the photons of low energy. After this component, the secondary photons of low energy are coming from flattening filter and secondary collimators that contaminate the dosimetry for deep tumor treatment. Fluence profile, energy profile and angular spread of secondary photons decreased with FF volume reduction percent but energy distribution and spectral distribution kept almost constant with FF volume reduction. The FF volume reduction allows reducing the secondary photons emergent from FF in number and in energy and it permits to increase the radiotherapy efficiency by decreasing the photons contamination when the cancer is treating.

The Effect of Linear Energy Transfer, Particle and Energy Fluence on Renal Surface Area during Abdominal CT Scan

The quantities that determine the relative image noise level by either increasing or reducing its value are photon quality (kVp) and photon quantity (mAs). This study is to determine the effect of LET, energy and particle fluence on the renal surface area during abdominal CT scan. The method involve extracting three exposure parameters from image data using MVL DICOM application software including: kVp, mA and scan time. The kVp or the photon peak energy which is applied in the A-P direction during abdominal CT scan was used to estimate linear energy transfer. While the particle fluence and the energy fluence were estimated from the effective mAs and the kVp on the total renal surface respectively. The effective mAs were estimated by dividing the mAs by the average pitch factor of approximately 0.813. In all the examinations, the average protocol setting in terms of exposure time and kilovolts peak were 500s and 120keV respectively. While the average protocol in all the centers recorded a mean effective milliamp second (mAs) of 59.27 mAs and tube current of 94.22A. The influence of these parameters on abdominal scan depends on the scan time, scan scope, the size of the renal surface area (RSA) which has varied values. The effects of effective mean mAs per unit mean renal surface area, described as mean effective particle fluence were 1.32mAs/cm2 and 1.50 mAs/cm2 for male and female respectively. The energy fluence, which is the photon energy per unit renal surface area estimated to have a mean value of 4.02 keVcm-2 and 4.51 keVcm-2 for male and female respectively. In addition, the maximum and minimum variations of all the measured parameters. The LET, which described the lost in photon energy as it traverses across the renal tissues in the A-P direction was estimated, with a mean value of 2.60 keV/µm and 2.67 keV/µm for male and female respectively. The maximum and minimum LET values were 4.49 keV/µm and 1.90 keV/µm for male and 5.26 keV/µm and 1.98 keV/µm for female respectively. The maximum measured values were below the critical LET values estimated to be between 15 to 20 keV/µm. These estimated risk parameters were used to predict the effect on abdominal and kidney tissues using the various modeled equations.