A. Scarabosio

Inter-machine comparison of intrinsic toroidal rotation in tokamaks

Parametric scalings of the intrinsic (spontaneous, with no external momentum input) toroidal rotation observed on a large number of tokamaks have been combined with an eye towards revealing the underlying mechanism(s) and extrapolation to future devices. The intrinsic rotation velocity has been found to increase with plasma stored energy or pressure in JET, Alcator C-Mod, Tore Supra, DIII-D, JT-60U and TCV, and to decrease with increasing plasma current in some of these cases. Use of dimensionless parameters has led to a roughly unified scaling with M-A alpha beta(N), although a variety of Mach numbers works fairly well; scalings of the intrinsic rotation velocity with normalized gyro-radius or collisionality show no correlation. Whether this suggests the predominant role of MHD phenomena such as ballooning transport over turbulent processes in driving the rotation remains an open question. For an ITER discharge with beta(N) = 2.6, an intrinsic rotation Alfven Mach number of M-A similar or equal to 0.02 may be expected from the above deduced scaling, possibly high enough to stabilize resistive wall modes without external momentum input.

Toroidal plasma rotation in the TCV tokamak

The first toroidal rotation measurements in TCV ohmic L-mode plasmas with no external momentum injection are presented. The toroidal velocity profile of the fully stripped carbon species is measured by active Charge eXchange Recombination Spectroscopy with a temporal resolution of typically 90 ms and a spatial resolution of 2.5 cm, about 1/10 of the plasma radius. The observed carbon velocity is of the order of the deuterium diamagnetic drift velocity and up to 1/5 of the deuterium thermal velocity. It is directed opposite to plasma current in the electron diamagnetic toroidal drift direction. The profile reverses when reversing the plasma current. The angular velocity profile is flat, or hollow, inside the sawtooth inversion radius and decreases quasi linearly towards the plasma edge. By vertically shifting the plasma magnetic axis within the TCV vessel the plasma edge velocity profile was measured with high resolution. Such experiments confirm that, close to the limiter, the stationary rotation velocity is close to zero or somewhat positive (co-current directed). This suggests that the angular momentum is not driven from the plasma edge. The maximum carbon velocity scales as v(phi,Max) [km s(-1)] = -12.5T(i)/I-p [eV/kA] for a significant range of densities and values of the edge safety factor. Comparison with neoclassical predictions show that the TCV plasma rotation is mainly driven by radial electric fields, with a negligible contribution from the toroidal electric fields. The neoclassical theory of small toroidal rotation quantitatively and qualitatively disagrees with the experimental observation. An alternative empirical equation for the angular momentum flux, able to reproduce the measured stationary profile outside the inversion radius, is proposed.

Plasma dynamics with second and third-harmonic ECRH and access to quasi-stationary ELM-free H-mode on TCV

Intense electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) and electron cyclotron current drive (ECCD) are employed on the Tokamak a Configuration Variable (TCV) both in second- and third-harmonic X-mode (X2 and X3). The plasma behaviour under such conditions is driven largely by the electron dynamics, motivating extensive studies of the heating and relaxation phenomena governing both the thermal and suprathermal electron populations. In particular, the dynamics of suprathermal electrons are intimately tied to the physics of X2 ECCD. ECRH is also a useful tool for manipulating the electron distribution function in both physical and velocity space. Fundamental studies of the energetic electron dynamics have been performed using periodic, low-duty-cycle bursts of ECRH, with negligible average power injection, and with electron cyclotron emission (ECE). The characteristic times of the dynamical evolution are clearly revealed. Suprathermal electrons have also been shown to affect the absorption of X3 radiation. Thermal electrons play a crucial role in high density plasmas where indirect ion heating can be achieved through ion-electron collisions. In recent experiments approximate to 1.35 MW of vertically launched X3 ECRH was coupled to a diverted ELMy H-mode plasma. In cases where >= 1.1 MW of ECRH power was coupled, the discharge was able to transition into a quasi-stationary ELM-free H-mode regime. These H-modes operated at beta(N) approximate to 2, (n) over bar (e)/n(G) approximate to 0.25 and had high energy confinement, H-IPB98(y,H-2) up to approximate to 1.6. Despite being purely electron heated and having no net particle source these discharges maintained a density peaking factor (n(e,o)/ approximate to 1.6). They also exhibited spontaneous toroidal momentum production in the co-current direction. The momentum production is due to a transport process as there is no external momentum input. This process supports little or no radial gradient of the toroidal velocity.

Recent results from the electron cyclotron heated plasmas in Tokamak à Configuration Variable (TCV)

In noninductively driven discharges, 0.9 MW second harmonic (X2) off-axis co-electron cyclotron current drive deposition is combined with 0.45 MW X2 central heating to create an electron internal transport barrier (eITB) in steady plasma conditions resulting in a 1.6-fold increase of the confinement time (τEe) over ITER-98L-mode scaling. The eITB is associated with a reversed shear current profile enhanced by a large bootstrap current fraction (up to 80%) and is sustained for up to 10 current redistribution times. A linear dependence of the confinement improvement on the product of the global shear reversal factor (q0/qmin) and the reversed shear volume (ρq-min2) is shown. In other discharges heated with X2 the sawteeth are destabilized (respectively stabilized) when heating just inside (respectively outside) the q=1 surface. Control of the sawteeth may allow the avoidance of neoclassical tearing modes that can be seeded by the sawtooth instability. Results on H-mode and highly elongated plasmas using the...

An overview of results from the TCV tokamak

The Tokamak Configuration Variable (TCV) tokamak (R = 0.88 m, a < 0.25 m, B < 1.54 T) programme is based on flexible plasma shaping and heating for studies of confinement, transport, control and power exhaust. Recent advances in fully sustained off-axis electron cyclotron current drive (ECCD) scenarios have allowed the creation of plasmas with high bootstrap fraction, steady-state reversed central shear and an electron internal transport barrier. High elongation plasmas, kappa = 2.5, are produced at low normalized current using far off-axis electron cyclotron heating and ECCD to broaden the current profile. Third harmonic heating is used to heat the plasma centre where the second harmonic is in cut-off. Both second and third harmonic heating are used to heat H-mode plasmas, at the edge and centre, respectively. The ELM frequency is decreased by the additional power. In separate experiments, the ELM frequency can be affected by locking to an external perturbation current in the internal coils of TCV. Spatially resolved current profiles are measured at the inner and outer divertor targets by Langmuir probe arrays during ELMs. The strong, reasonably balanced currents are thought to be thermoelectric in origin.

Control of electron internal transport barriers in TCV

Current profile tailoring has been performed by application of electron cyclotron heating (ECH) and electron cyclotron current drive, leading to improved energy confinement in the plasma core of the TCV tokamak. The improved confinement is characterized by a substantial enhancement (H-factor) of the global electron energy confinement time relative to the prediction of the RLW scaling law (Rebut P H et al 1989 Proc. 12th Int. Conf. of Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion Research (Nice, 1988) vol 2 (Vienna: IAEA) p 191), which predicts well Ohmic and standard ECH discharges on TCV. The improved confinement is attributed to a hollow current density profile producing a reversed shear profile creating an electron internal transport barrier. We relate the strength of the barrier to the depth of the hollow current density profile and the volume enclosed by the radial location of the peak current density. The rho(T)(*) (Tresset G et al 2002 Nucl. Fusion 42 520) criterion is used to evaluate the performance of the barrier relative to changes in the ECH parameters or the addition of Ohmic current, which aid in identifying the control parameters available for improving either the strength or volume of the barrier for enhanced performance. A figure of merit for the global scaling factor is used that scales the confinement enhancement as the product of the barrier volume and strength.

Stability and energy confinement of highly elongated plasmas in TCV

Note: 28th EPS Conference on Controlled Fusion and Plasma Physics, Funchal, Madeira, Portugal, June 2001, Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion 43(12A), A161 - A173, 2001 (ISSN 0741-3335) Reference CRPP-CONF-2001-030 Record created on 2008-05-13, modified on 2017-05-12

Current profile tailoring using localized electron cyclotron heating in highly elongated TCV plasmas

Radially localized electron cyclotron heating (ECH) at the 2nd harmonic (X2) is used to tailor the current profile through the modification of the temperature, and hence conductivity, profiles. The optimal conditions for current profile broadening are investigated and applied to decrease the plasma internal inductance at constant plasma current. Highly elongated plasmas are thus created at low current, where they are vertically unstable with peaked Ohmic current profiles, using active current profile broadening by far off-axis X2 ECH to ensure the vertical stability of the plasma. Central 3rd harmonic (X3) ECH is also applied and its impact on the current profile is described. The magnetohydrodynamic activity and in particular the replacement of the sawtooth by a multi-harmonics mode, resonant on the q = 1 surface and observed at high density and low internal inductance, is investigated.

Physics Studies with ECH/CD in the TCV tokamak

Note: Invited paper - AIP Conference Proceedings 687, 297-304, ISBN 0-7354-0158-6 (invited paper) - part 1: 15th Topical Conference on Radio Frequency Power in Plasmas, Moran, Wyoming, USA, May 2003 (see also #3643) Reference CRPP-CONF-2003-058 Record created on 2008-05-13, modified on 2017-05-12