Neutral particle energy analysis and charge exchange power loss in edge-dominated spheromaks

Neutral particle density profiles have previously been calculated for spheromak plasmas [Phys. Fluids B 2 (1990) 115]. Here, the formalism is extended to calculate the one‐dimensional (1‐D) profile of the egressing neutral energy flux to correctly treat profile and attenuation effects. If is found that the energy flux profile is strongly dependent on Ti,Te,ne profiles and magnitudes, and regions of the plasma have been identified as localized ‘‘hot spots’’ for charge‐exchange power loss in some cases. In addition, the total charge exchange power loss is found to be in order‐of‐magnitude agreement with predictions from a zero‐dimensional (0‐D) model and can account for the bulk of the edge‐dominated spheromak power loss.