D.J. Battaglia

Snowflake divertor configuration studies in National Spherical Torus Experimenta)

Experimental results from NSTX indicate that the snowflake divertor (D. Ryutov, Phys. Plasmas 14, 064502 (2007)) may be a viable solution for outstanding tokamak plasma-material interface issues. Steady-state handling of divertor heat flux and divertor plate erosion remains to be critical issues for ITER and future concept devices based on conventional and spherical tokamak geometry with high power density divertors. Experiments conducted in 4–6u2009MW NBI-heated H-mode plasmas in NSTX demonstrated that the snowflake divertor is compatible with high-confinement core plasma operation, while being very effective in steady-state divertor heat flux mitigation and impurity reduction. A steady-state snowflake divertor was obtained in recent NSTX experiments for up to 600u2009ms using three divertor magnetic coils. The high magnetic flux expansion region of the scrape-off layer (SOL) spanning up to 50% of the SOL width λq was partially detached in the snowflake divertor. In the detached zone, the heat flux profile flatt...

Enhanced H-mode pedestals with lithium injection in DIII-D

Periods of edge localized mode (ELM)-free H-mode with increased pedestal pressure and width were observed in the DIII-D tokamak when density fluctuations localized to the region near the separatrix were present. Injection of a powder of 45 µm diameter lithium particles increased the duration of the enhanced pedestal phases to up to 350 ms, and also increased the likelihood of a transition to the enhanced phase. Lithium injection at a level sufficient for triggering the extended enhanced phases resulted in significant lithium in the plasma core, but carbon and other higher Z impurities as well as radiated power levels were reduced. Recycling of the working deuterium gas appeared unaffected by this level of lithium injection. The ion scale, kθρs ~ 0.1–0.2, density fluctuations propagated in the electron drift direction with f ~ 80 kHz and occurred in bursts every ~1 ms. The fluctuation bursts correlated with plasma loss resulting in a flattening of the pressure profile in a region near the separatrix. This localized flattening allowed higher overall pedestal pressure at the peeling–ballooning stability limit and higher pressure than expected under the EPED model due to reduction of the pressure gradient below the ballooning critical profile. Reduction of the ion pressure by lithium dilution may contribute to the long ELM-free periods.

Kinetic neoclassical transport in the H-mode pedestala)

Multi-species kinetic neoclassical transport through the QH-mode pedestal and scrape-off layer on DIII-D is calculated using XGC0, a 5D full-f particle-in-cell drift-kinetic solver with self-consistent neutral recycling and sheath potentials. Quantitative agreement between the flux-driven simulation and the experimental electron density, impurity density, and orthogonal measurements of impurity temperature and flow profiles is achieved by adding random-walk particle diffusion to the guiding-center drift motion. The radial electric field (Er) that maintains ambipolar transport across flux surfaces and to the wall is computed self-consistently on closed and open magnetic field lines and is in excellent agreement with experiment. The Er inside the separatrix is the unique solution that balances the outward flux of thermal tail deuterium ions against the outward neoclassical electron flux and inward pinch of impurity and colder deuterium ions. Particle transport in the pedestal is primarily due to anomalous t...

Tokamak startup using outboard current injection on the Pegasus Toroidal Experiment

Localized current injection near the outboard midplane is used to form 0.1?MA plasma discharges with no induction supplied from a central solenoid in the ultra-low aspect ratio Pegasus Toroidal Experiment. The discharges are initiated by driving open-field-line currents that perturb the vacuum magnetic field such that the magnetic topology transitions to a tokamak-like configuration. The plasma is subsequently driven via helicity injection from the edge current sources and poloidal field induction. Intermittent n = 1 MHD activity is observed during periods of strong edge current drive and each event leads to a rapid inward expansion of the plasma volume and a drop in the plasma inductance. The plasmas are sufficiently turbulent such that the equilibrium approaches the lowest energy state described by Taylor relaxation theory. In agreement with that theory, the maximum Ip scales with (ITFIinj/w)1/2, where ITF is the toroidal field rod current, Iinj is the injected edge current and w is the radial width of the average poloidal magnetic flux in the driven open flux region.

Two-dimensional characterization of ELM precursors in NSTX

Gas puff imaging has been used to capture the two-dimensional evolution of edge-localized mode (ELM) precursors. Precursor events were observed preceding ELMs and ELM-induced H?L back-transitions in radio-frequency heated H-mode plasmas, and the growth of the precursor mode through the ELM filamentation was imaged in the plane perpendicular to the local B-field. Strong edge intensity modulations appeared to propagate in the electron diamagnetic direction while steadily drifting radially outwards. Intensity fluctuations were observed at frequencies around 20?kHz and wavenumbers of 0.05?0.2?cm?1. Upon growing to a trigger point, precursor fluctuations were seen to form filamentary structures and move into the scrape-off layer (SOL) explosively with radial velocities peaking at 8?km?s?1. Once in the SOL, filaments reverse their propagation direction and travel in the ion diamagnetic direction. Edge intensity fluctuations are strongly correlated with magnetic signals from Mirnov coils, and toroidally distributed coils estimated toroidal mode numbers of n?=?5?10. Quantitatively similar precursors have been observed in ohmic H-mode plasmas as well, though significantly fewer events are seen in the ohmic cases and none were observed in the near-threshold NBI H-modes studied.

Correlations between quasi-coherent fluctuations and the pedestal evolution during the inter-edge localized modes phase on DIII-Da)

Direct measurements of the pedestal recovery during an edge-localized mode cycle provide evidence that quasi-coherent fluctuations (QCFs) play a role in the inter-ELM pedestal dynamics. Using fast Thomson scattering measurements, the pedestal density and temperature evolutions are probed on sub-millisecond time scales to show a fast recovery of the density gradient compared to the temperature gradient. The temperature gradient appears to provide a drive for the onset of quasi-coherent fluctuations (as measured with the magnetic probe and the density diagnostics) localized in the pedestal. The amplitude evolution of these QCFs tracks the temperature gradient evolution including its saturation. Such correlation suggests that these QCFs play a key role in limiting the pedestal temperature gradient. The saturation of the QCFs coincides with the pressure gradient reaching the kinetic-ballooning mode (KBM) critical gradient as predicted by EPED1. Furthermore, linear microinstability analysis using GS2 indicates that the steep gradient is near the KBM threshold. Thus, the modeling and the observations together suggest that QCFs are consistent with dominant KBMs, although microtearing cannot be excluded as subdominant.

Dependence of the L?H transition on X-point geometry and divertor recycling on NSTX

The edge electron (Te) and ion temperature (Ti) at the time of the L?H transition increase when the X-point radius (RX) is reduced to a high-triangularity shape while maintaining constant edge density. Consequently the L?H power threshold (PLH) is larger for the high-triangularity shape. This supports the prediction that a single-particle loss hole, whose properties are strongly linked to RX and Ti, influences the edge radial electric field (Er) and Er???B flow-shearing rate available for turbulence suppression. Simulations using XGC0, a full-f drift-kinetic neoclassical code, indicate that maintaining a constant Er???B flow-shearing rate does require a larger heat flux and edge Ti as RX decreases. NSTX also observes a decrease in PLH when the divertor recycling is decreased using lithium coatings. However, the edge Te and Ti at the L?H transition appear independent of the divertor recycling for a constant shape. XGC0 calculations demonstrate that more heat flux is needed to maintain the edge Ti and the Er???B flow-shearing rate as the contribution of divertor recycling to the overall neutral fuelling rate increases.

Progress in understanding the enhanced pedestal H-mode in NSTX

This paper describes the enhanced pedestal (EP) H-mode observed in the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX). The defining characteristics of EP H-mode are given, namely (i) transition after the L- to H-mode transition, (ii) region of very steep ion temperature gradient, and (iii) associated region of strong rotational shear. A newly observed long-pulse EP H-mode example shows quiescent behaviour for as long as the heating and current drive sources are maintained. Cases are shown where the region of steep ion temperature gradient is located at the very edge, and cases where it is shifted up to 10xa0cm inward from the plasma edge; these cases are united by a common dependence of the ion temperature gradient on the toroidal rotation frequency shear. EP H-mode examples have been observed across a wide range of q95 and pedestal collisionality. No strong changes in the fluctuation amplitudes have been observed following the EP H-mode transition, and transport analysis indicates that the ion thermal transport is comparable to or less than anticipated from a simple neoclassical transport model. Cases are shown where EP H-modes were reliably generated, though these low-q95 examples were difficult to sustain. A case where an externally triggered edge localized mode (ELM) precipitates the transition to EP H-mode is also shown, though an initial experiment designed to trigger EP H-modes in this fashion was unsuccessful.

Suppression of Alfvén Modes on the National Spherical Torus Experiment Upgrade with Outboard Beam Injection

In this Letter we present data from experiments on the National Spherical Torus Experiment Upgrade, where it is shown for the first time that small amounts of high pitch-angle beam ions can strongly suppress the counterpropagating global Alfvén eigenmodes (GAE). GAE have been implicated in the redistribution of fast ions and modification of the electron power balance in previous experiments on NSTX. The ability to predict the stability of Alfvén modes, and developing methods to control them, is important for fusion reactors like the International Tokamak Experimental Reactor, which are heated by a large population of nonthermal, super-Alfvénic ions consisting of fusion generated αs and beam ions injected for current profile control. We present a qualitative interpretation of these observations using an analytic model of the Doppler-shifted ion-cyclotron resonance drive responsible for GAE instability which has an important dependence on k_{⊥}ρ_{L}. A quantitative analysis of this data with the hym stability code predicts both the frequencies and instability of the GAE prior to, and suppression of the GAE after the injection of high pitch-angle beam ions.

Improved kinetic neoclassical transport calculation for a low-collisionality QH-mode pedestal

The role of neoclassical, anomalous and neutral transport to the overall H-mode pedestal and scrape-off layer (SOL) structure in an ELM-free QH-mode discharge on DIII-D is explored using XGC0, a 5D full-f multi-species particle-in-cell drift-kinetic solver with self-consistent neutral recycling and sheath potentials. The work in this paper builds on previous work aimed at achieving quantitative agreement between the flux-driven simulation and the experimental electron density, impurity density and orthogonal measurements of impurity temperature and flow profiles. Improved quantitative agreement is achieved by performing the calculations with a more realistic electron mass, larger neutral density and including finite-Larmor-radius corrections self-consistently in the drift-kinetic motion of the particles. Consequently, the simulations provide stronger evidence that the radial electric field (E-r) in the pedestal is primarily established by the required balance between the loss of high-energy tail main ions against a pinch of colder main ions and impurities. The kinetic loss of a small population of ions carrying a large proportion of energy and momentum leads to a separation of the particle and energy transport rates and introduces a source of intrinsic edge torque. Ion orbit loss and finite orbit width effects drive the energy distributions away from Maxwellian, and describe themorexa0» anisotropy, poloidal asymmetry and local minimum near the separatrix observed in the T-i profile.«xa0less