EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF RUNAWAY ELECTRON GENERATION IN TEXTOR

An experimental study of the generation of runaway electrons in TEXTOR has been performed. From the infrared synchrotron radiation emitted by relativistic electrons, the number of runaway electrons can be obtained as a function of time. In low density discharges (n(e)BAR < 1 X 10(19) m-3) runaways are created throughout the discharge and not predominantly in the startup phase. From the exponential increase in the runaway population and the ongoing runaway production after the density is increased, it is concluded that the secondary generation, i.e. the creation of runaways through close collisions of already existing runaways with thermal electrons, provides an essential contribution to the runaway production. The effective avalanche time of this secondary process is determined to be t(eff) = 0.9 +/- 0.2 s.