Observation of sawtooth redistribution of nonthermal, confined alpha particles in TFTR D-T discharges

Radial profiles of the density of confined alpha particles with energies in the 0.15-0.6 MeV range are spectroscopically observed before and after a sawtooth crash in a TFTR D-T plasma. A large drop in the core alpha density is seen indicating expulsion of alphas from the core to the plasma periphery. The measured changes in the alpha density profiles are consistent with predictions based on the Kolesnichenko sawtooth model, indicating that it may be used to reliably predict the effect of sawteeth on fusion-produced alphas