The Dreicer field (or Dreicer electric field) is the critical electric field above which
electrons in a collisional
plasma can be accelerated to become
runaway electrons. It was named after Harry Dreicer who derived the expression in 1959[1] and expanded on the concept (i.e. runaway generation) in 1960.[2] The Dreicer field is an important parameter in the study of
tokamaks to suppress runaway generation in
nuclear fusion.[3][4][5]
where is the electron density, is the
elementary charge, is the
Coulomb logarithm, is the
vacuum permittivity, is the electron mass and is the electron thermal speed. It was derived by considering the balance between the electric field and the collisional forces acting on a single electron within the plasma.[6][8]
Recent experiments have shown that the electric field required to accelerate electrons is significantly larger than the theoretically calculated Dreicer field.[9][10][11] New models have been proposed to explain the discrepancy.[8][12]
^Martín-Solís, J. R.; Sánchez, R.; Esposito, B. (2010-10-25). "Experimental Observation of Increased Threshold Electric Field for Runaway Generation due to Synchrotron Radiation Losses in the FTU Tokamak". Physical Review Letters. 105 (18): 185002.
Bibcode:
2010PhRvL.105r5002M.
doi:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.185002.
PMID21231111.
^Paz-Soldan, C.; Eidietis, N. W.; Granetz, R.; Hollmann, E. M.; Moyer, R. A.; Wesley, J. C.; Zhang, J.; Austin, M. E.; Crocker, N. A. (2014-02-01). "Growth and decay of runaway electrons above the critical electric field under quiescent conditions". Physics of Plasmas. 21 (2): 022514.
Bibcode:
2014PhPl...21b2514P.
doi:
10.1063/1.4866912.
ISSN1070-664X.
OSTI1354820.
The Dreicer field (or Dreicer electric field) is the critical electric field above which
electrons in a collisional
plasma can be accelerated to become
runaway electrons. It was named after Harry Dreicer who derived the expression in 1959[1] and expanded on the concept (i.e. runaway generation) in 1960.[2] The Dreicer field is an important parameter in the study of
tokamaks to suppress runaway generation in
nuclear fusion.[3][4][5]
where is the electron density, is the
elementary charge, is the
Coulomb logarithm, is the
vacuum permittivity, is the electron mass and is the electron thermal speed. It was derived by considering the balance between the electric field and the collisional forces acting on a single electron within the plasma.[6][8]
Recent experiments have shown that the electric field required to accelerate electrons is significantly larger than the theoretically calculated Dreicer field.[9][10][11] New models have been proposed to explain the discrepancy.[8][12]
^Martín-Solís, J. R.; Sánchez, R.; Esposito, B. (2010-10-25). "Experimental Observation of Increased Threshold Electric Field for Runaway Generation due to Synchrotron Radiation Losses in the FTU Tokamak". Physical Review Letters. 105 (18): 185002.
Bibcode:
2010PhRvL.105r5002M.
doi:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.185002.
PMID21231111.
^Paz-Soldan, C.; Eidietis, N. W.; Granetz, R.; Hollmann, E. M.; Moyer, R. A.; Wesley, J. C.; Zhang, J.; Austin, M. E.; Crocker, N. A. (2014-02-01). "Growth and decay of runaway electrons above the critical electric field under quiescent conditions". Physics of Plasmas. 21 (2): 022514.
Bibcode:
2014PhPl...21b2514P.
doi:
10.1063/1.4866912.
ISSN1070-664X.
OSTI1354820.