D.L. Green

Full wave simulations of fast wave heating losses in the scrape-off layer of NSTX and NSTX-U

Full wave simulations of fusion plasmas show a direct correlation between the location of the fast-wave cut-off, radiofrequency (RF) field amplitude in the scrape-off layer (SOL) and the RF power losses in the SOL observed in the National Spherical Torus eXperiment (NSTX). In particular, the RF power losses in the SOL increase significantly when the launched waves transition from evanescent to propagating in that region. Subsequently, a large amplitude electric field occurs in the SOL, driving RF power losses when a proxy collisional loss term is added. A 3D reconstruction of absorbed power in the SOL is presented showing agreement with the RF experiments in NSTX. Loss predictions for the future experiment NSTX-Upgrade (NSTX-U) are also obtained and discussed.

Advances in high-harmonic fast wave physics in the National Spherical Torus Experiment

Improved core high-harmonic fast wave (HHFW) heating at longer wavelengths and during start-up and plasma current ramp-up has now been obtained by lowering the edge density with lithium wall conditioning, thereby moving the critical density for perpendicular fast-wave propagation away from the vessel wall. Lithium conditioning allowed significant HHFW core electron heating of deuterium neutral beam injection (NBI) fuelled H-mode plasmas to be observed for the first time. Large edge localized modes were observed immediately after the termination of rf power. Visible and infrared camera images show that fast wave interactions can deposit considerable rf energy on the outboard divertor. HHFW-generated parametric decay instabilities were observed to heat ions in the plasma edge and may be the cause for a measured drag on edge toroidal rotation during HHFW heating. A significant enhancement in neutron rate and fast-ion profile was measured in NBI-fuelled plasmas when HHFW heating was applied.

Fast-wave power flow along SOL field lines in NSTX and the associated power deposition profile across the SOL in front of the antenna

Fast-wave heating and current drive efficiencies can be reduced by a number of processes in the vicinity of the antenna and in the scrape off layer (SOL). On NSTX from around 25% to more than 60% of the high-harmonic fast-wave power can be lost to the SOL regions, and a large part of this lost power flows along SOL magnetic field lines and is deposited in bright spirals on the divertor floor and ceiling. We show that field-line mapping matches the location of heat deposition on the lower divertor, albeit with a portion of the heat outside of the predictions. The field-line mapping can then be used to partially reconstruct the profile of lost fast-wave power at the midplane in front of the antenna, and the losses peak close to the last closed flux surface (LCFS) as well as the antenna. This profile suggests a radial standing-wave pattern formed by fast-wave propagation in the SOL, and this hypothesis will be tested on NSTX-U. Advanced RF codes must reproduce these results so that such codes can be used to understand this edge loss and to minimize RF heat deposition and erosion in the divertor region on ITER.

Measurements of ion cyclotron range of frequencies mode converted wave intensity with phase contrast imaging in Alcator C-Mod and comparison with full-wave simulations

Radio frequency waves in the ion cyclotron range of frequencies (ICRF) are widely used to heat tokamak plasmas. In ICRF heating schemes involving multiple ion species, the launched fast waves convert to ion cyclotron waves or ion Bernstein waves at the two-ion hybrid resonances. Mode converted waves are of interest as actuators to optimise plasma performance through current drive and flow drive. In order to describe these processes accurately in a realistic tokamak geometry, numerical simulations are essential, and it is important that these codes be validated against experiment. In this study, the mode converted waves were measured using a phase contrast imaging technique in D-H and D-3He plasmas. The measured mode converted wave intensity in the D-3He mode conversion regime was found to be a factor of ∼50 weaker than the full-wave predictions. The discrepancy was reduced in the hydrogen minority heating regime, where mode conversion is weaker.

Iterated finite-orbit Monte Carlo simulations with full-wave fields for modeling tokamak ion cyclotron resonance frequency wave heating experiments

The five-dimensional finite-orbit Monte Carlo code ORBIT-RF [M. Choi et al., Phys. Plasmas 12, 1 (2005)] is successfully coupled with the two-dimensional full-wave code all-orders spectral algorithm (AORSA) [E. F. Jaeger et al., Phys. Plasmas 13, 056101 (2006)] in a self-consistent way to achieve improved predictive modeling for ion cyclotron resonance frequency (ICRF) wave heating experiments in present fusion devices and future ITER [R. Aymar et al., Nucl. Fusion 41, 1301 (2001)]. The ORBIT-RF/AORSA simulations reproduce fast-ion spectra and spatial profiles qualitatively consistent with fast ion D-alpha [W. W. Heidbrink et al., Plasma Phys. Controlled Fusion 49, 1457 (2007)] spectroscopic data in both DIII-D [J. L. Luxon, Nucl. Fusion 42, 614 (2002)] and National Spherical Torus Experiment [M. Ono et al., Nucl. Fusion 41, 1435 (2001)] high harmonic ICRF heating experiments. This work verifies that both finite-orbit width effect of fast-ion due to its drift motion along the torus and iterations between ...

Integrated fusion simulation with self-consistent core-pedestal coupling

Accurate prediction of fusion performance in present and future tokamaks requires taking into account the strong interplay between core transport, pedestal structure, current profile, and plasma equilibrium. An integrated modeling workflow capable of calculating the steady-state self-consistent solution to this strongly coupled problem has been developed. The workflow leverages state-of-the-art components for collisional and turbulent core transport, equilibrium and pedestal stability. Testing against a DIII-D discharge shows that the workflow is capable of robustly predicting the kinetic profiles (electron and ion temperature and electron density) from the axis to the separatrix in a good agreement with the experiments. An example application is presented, showing self-consistent optimization for the fusion performance of the 15 MA D-T ITER baseline scenario as functions of the pedestal density and ion effective charge Zeff.

Comparison of the Monte Carlo ion cyclotron heating model with the full-wave linear absorption model

To fully account for the wave-particle interaction physics in ion cyclotron resonant frequency (ICRF) heating experiment, finite orbit effects and non-Maxwellian distribution have to be self-consistently coupled with full-wave solutions. For this purpose, the five-dimensional Monte Carlo code ORBIT-RF [M. Choi et al., Phys. Plasmas 12, 1 (2005)] is being coupled with the two-dimensional full-wave code AORSA [E. F. Jaeger et al., Phys. Plasmas 13, 056101 (2006)] to iteratively evolve the ion distribution in four-dimensional spatial velocity space that is used to update the dielectric tensor in AORSA for evaluating the full-wave fields. In this paper, it is demonstrated that using the full-wave fields from a Maxwellian dielectric tensor in AORSA and confining the resonant ions to their initial orbits in ORBIT-RF, ORBIT-RF largely reproduces the AORSA linear wave absorption profiles for fundamental and higher harmonic ICRF heating. An exception is an observed inward shift in the ORBIT-RF absorption peak for ...

Observations of electron heating during 28 GHz microwave power application in proto-MPEX

The Prototype Material Plasma Exposure Experiment at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory utilizes a variety of power systems to generate and deliver a high heat flux plasma onto the surface of material targets. In the experiments described here, a deuterium plasma is produced via a ∼100 kW, 13.56 MHz RF helicon source, to which ∼20 kW of 28 GHz microwave power is applied. The electron density and temperature profiles are measured using a Thomson scattering (TS) diagnostic, and indicate that the electron density is centrally peaked. In the core of the plasma column, the electron density is higher than the cut-off density (∼0.9 × 1019 m−3) for the launched mixture of X- and O-mode electron cyclotron heating waves to propagate. TS measurements indicate electron temperature increases from ∼5 eV to ∼20 eV during 28 GHz power application when the neutral deuterium pressure is reduced below 0.13 Pa (∼1 mTorr.).

Full-wave simulations of ICRF heating regimes in toroidal plasma with non-Maxwellian distribution functions

At the power levels required for significant heating and current drive in magnetically-confined toroidal plasma, modification of the particle distribution function from a Maxwellian shape is likely (Stix 1975 Nucl. Fusion 15 737), with consequent changes in wave propagation and in the location and amount of absorption. In order to study these effects computationally, both the finite-Larmor-radius and the high-harmonic fast wave (HHFW), versions of the full-wave, hot-plasma toroidal simulation code TORIC (Brambilla 1999 Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 41 1 and Brambilla 2002 Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 44 2423), have been extended to allow the prescription of arbitrary velocity distributions of the form . For hydrogen (H) minority heating of a deuterium (D) plasma with anisotropic Maxwellian H distributions, the fractional H absorption varies significantly with changes in parallel temperature but is essentially independent of perpendicular temperature. On the other hand, for HHFW regime with anisotropic Maxwellian fast ion distribution, the fractional beam ion absorption varies mainly with changes in the perpendicular temperature. The evaluation of the wave-field and power absorption, through the full wave solver, with the ion distribution function provided by either a Monte-Carlo particle and Fokker–Planck codes is also examined for Alcator C-Mod and NSTX plasmas. Non-Maxwellian effects generally tend to increase the absorption with respect to the equivalent Maxwellian distribution.

Validation of full-wave simulations for mode conversion of waves in the ion cyclotron range of frequencies with phase contrast imaging in Alcator C-Mod

Mode conversion of fast waves in the ion cyclotron range of frequencies (ICRF) is known to result in current drive and flow drive under optimised conditions, which may be utilized to control plasma profiles and improve fusion plasma performance. To describe these processes accurately in a realistic toroidal geometry, numerical simulations are essential. Quantitative comparison of these simulations and the actual experimental measurements is important to validate their predictions and to evaluate their limitations. The phase contrast imaging (PCI) diagnostic has been used to directly detect the ICRF waves in the Alcator C-Mod tokamak. The measurements have been compared with full-wave simulations through a synthetic diagnostic technique. Recently, the frequency response of the PCI detector array on Alcator C-Mod was recalibrated, which greatly improved the comparison between the measurements and the simulations. In this study, mode converted waves for D-3He and D-H plasmas with various ion species composit...