UC Irvine

Measurements of fluctuations in the neutron yield are made on the tokamak fusion test reactor (TFTR) with plastic scintillators. Light from the scintillators is coupled through acrylic rods or fiber-optic cables to photomultipliers operated in current mode. Discrimination against hard x rays is accomplished through comparison with the signal from a ZnS(6Li) scintillator. These measurements are useful in studies of deuterium pellet deposition, of the acceleration of beam ions during major radial compression, and of MHD instabilities. Techniques for measuring the neutral beam density profile and Qequivdt using neutron fluctuation measurements during pellet injection also have been proposed.