E.A. Unterberg

ELM destabilization by externally applied non-axisymmetric magnetic perturbations in NSTX

We report on a recent set of experiments performed in NSTX to explore the effects of non-axisymmetric magnetic perturbations on the stability of edge-localized modes (ELMs). The application of these 3D fields in NSTX was found to have a strong effect on ELM stability, including the destabilization of ELMs in H-modes otherwise free of large ELMs. Exploiting the effect of the perturbations, ELMs have been controllably introduced into lithium-enhanced ELM-free H-modes, causing a reduction in impurity accumulation while maintaining high confinement. Although these experiments show the principle of the combined use of lithium coatings and 3D fields, further optimization is required in order to reduce the size of the induced ELMs.

Role of plasma response in displacements of the tokamak edge due to applied non-axisymmetric fields

Linear, two-fluid, resistive modelling of the plasma response to applied non-axisymmetric fields shows significant displacement of edge temperature and density profiles. The calculated displacements, often of 2 cm or more in H-mode pedestals with parameters appropriate to DIII-D, are due to the helical distortions resulting from stable edge modes being driven to finite amplitude by the applied fields. In many cases, these displacements are greater in magnitude, and different in phase, than the distortions of the separatrix manifolds predicted from vacuum modelling. Comparison of these results with experimental measurements from Thomson scattering and soft x-ray imaging finds good quantitative agreement. In these experiments, the phase of the applied non-axisymmetric magnetic field was flipped or rotated in order to probe the non-axisymmetric features of the response. The poloidal structures measured by x-ray imaging show clear indications of a helical response, as opposed to simply a change in the axisymmetric transport. Inclusion of two-fluid effects and rotation are found to be important in obtaining quantitative agreement with Thomson scattering data. Modelling shows screening of islands in the H-mode pedestal, but island penetration near the top of the pedestal where the electron rotation vanishes in plasmas with co-current rotation. Enhanced transport due to these islands may provide a mechanism for maintaining the pedestal width below the stability threshold of edge-localized modes. For typical DIII-D parameters, it is shown that the linear approximation is often near or beyond the limit of validity in the H-mode edge; however, the general agreement with experimental measurements indicates that these linear results nevertheless maintain good predictive value for profile displacements.

L?H transition studies on DIII-D to determine H-mode access for operational scenarios in ITER

A comprehensive set of L–H transition experiments has been performed on DIII-D to determine the requirements for access to H-mode plasmas in ITERs first (non-nuclear) operational phase with H and He plasmas and the second (activated) operational phase with D plasmas. The H-mode power threshold, PTH, was evaluated for different operational configurations and auxiliary heating methods for the different main ion species. Helium plasmas have significantly higher PTH than deuterium plasmas at low densities for all heating schemes, but similar PTH as deuterium plasmas at high densities except for H-neutral beam injection-heated discharges, which are still higher. Changes in PTH are observed when helium concentration levels in deuterium plasmas exceed 40%. There is a strong dependence of PTH on the magnetic geometry in the vicinity of the divertor. The trend of decreasing PTH with decreasing X-point height is observed for all of the main ion species irrespective of the heating method, which appears to indicate that there is a common physics process behind this effect for all of the ion species. Helium and deuterium plasmas exhibit a significant increase in PTH for strong resonant magnetic perturbations. The application of a local magnetic ripple of 3% from test blanket module mock-up coils did not change PTH in deuterium plasmas.

Advances in the physics understanding of ELM suppression using resonant magnetic perturbations in DIII-D

Recent experiments on DIII-D have increased confidence in the ability to suppress edge-localized modes (ELMs) using edge-resonant magnetic perturbations (RMPs) in ITER, including an improved physics basis for the edge response to RMPs as well as expansion of RMP ELM suppression to more ITER-like conditions. Complete ELM suppression has been achieved utilizing n = 3 RMPs in the ITER baseline scenario. In addition, RMP ELM suppression has been expanded to include plasmas with helium concentrations near 25% and the use of n = 2 RMPs. Analysis of the kinetic profile response suggests that ELM suppression is correlated with the co-alignment of the ω⊥e = 0 location, an n = 3 rational surface, and the top of the pedestal. Modelling predicts that such a co-alignment could potentially lead to island (or island chain) formation just inside the top of the pedestal, inhibiting the growth of the pedestal and thereby maintaining the ELM-free state. Detailed analysis of data obtained during toroidal phase variations of the applied n = 3 RMPs have provided further evidence of an island-like structure at the top of the pedestal. In addition, nearly matched discharges with co-neutral-beam-injection (co-NBI) and counter-NBI have demonstrated the importance of the presence of the ω⊥e = 0 location for ELM suppression. In the counter-NBI cases, the toroidal rotation profile is such that there is no ω⊥e = 0 location and ELMs are not suppressed in conditions in which ELM suppression is generally observed with co-NBI.

Limits to the H-mode pedestal pressure gradient in DIII-D

The spatial and temporal evolution of the total pedestal pressure profile has been measured during the pedestal evolution between successive edge localized modes (ELMs) of type-I ELMing H-mode discharges in DIII-D. Measurements are used to test a model that predicts that kinetic ballooning modes (KBMs) provide a strong constraint on the pedestal pressure gradient obtained during an inter-ELM cycle and cause the pedestal width to scale as the square root of the pedestal poloidal beta. Discharges in two different parameter regimes are examined for evidence that the evolution of the pressure gradient reaches a limit prior to the onset of an ELM. Both discharges show evidence of rapid evolution of the pressure profile very early in the recovery phase from an ELM. In one discharge, the pressure gradient reached approximate steady state within ~3 ms after the ELM event. In the other discharge, the pressure gradient just inboard of the last closed flux surface reached steady state early in the ELM recovery phase even as the pedestal expanded into the core and the maximum pressure gradient continued to rise during the remainder of the ELM cycle. Simple quantitative theoretical metrics show that pressure gradients in both discharges reached levels that were large enough to excite KBMs. In addition, the peeling–ballooning theory for the onset of type-I ELMs and the EPED1 model for pedestal height and width make predictions consistent with the data of both discharges.

Poloidally and radially resolved parallel D + velocity measurements in the DIII-D boundary and comparison to neoclassical computations

First measurements of the D+ parallel velocity, V∥D+, in L-mode discharges in the DIII-D [J. L. Luxon, Nucl. Fusion 42, 614 (2002)] tokamak boundary region at two poloidal locations, θ∼0° and θ∼255°, made using Mach probes, feature a peak with velocities of up to 80 km/s at the midplane last closed flux surface (LCFS), as high as ten times the charge exchange recombination C6+ toroidal velocity, VϕC6+, in the same location. The V∥D+ profiles are very asymmetric poloidally, by a factor of 8–10, and feature a local peak at the midplane. This peak, 1–2 cm wide, is located at or just inside the LCFS, and it suggests a large source of momentum in that location. This momentum source is quantified at ∼0.31 N m by using a simple momentum transport model. This is the most accurate measurement of the effects of so called “intrinsic” edge momentum source to date. The V∥D+ measurements are quantitatively consistent with a purely neoclassical computational modeling of V∥D+ by the code NEO [E. A. Belli and J. Candy, Pl...

Reduction of edge localized mode intensity on DIII-D by on-demand triggering with high frequency pellet injection and implications for ITERa)

The injection of small deuterium pellets at high repetition rates up to 12× the natural edge localized mode (ELM) frequency has been used to trigger high-frequency ELMs in otherwise low natural ELM frequency H-mode deuterium discharges in the DIII-D tokamak [J. L. Luxon and L. G. Davis, Fusion Technol. 8, 441 (1985)]. The resulting pellet-triggered ELMs result in up to 12× lower energy and particle fluxes to the divertor than the natural ELMs. The plasma global energy confinement and density are not strongly affected by the pellet perturbations. The plasma core impurity density is strongly reduced with the application of the pellets. These experiments were performed with pellets injected from the low field side pellet in plasmas designed to match the ITER baseline configuration in shape and normalized β operation with input heating power just above the H-mode power threshold. Nonlinear MHD simulations of the injected pellets show that destabilization of ballooning modes by a local pressure perturbation is...

Impact of plasma response on plasma displacements in DIII-D during application of external 3D perturbations

The effects of applied 3D resonant magnetic perturbations are modelled with and without self-consistent plasma response. The plasma response is calculated using a linear two-fluid model. A synthetic diagnostic is used to simulate soft x-ray (SXR) emission within the steep gradient region of the pedestal, 0.98 > ψ > 0.94. Two methods for simulating the SXR emission given the perturbed fields are considered. In the first method, the emission is assumed to be constant on magnetic field lines, with the emission on each line determined by the penetration depth into the plasma. In the second method, the emission is taken to be a function of the perturbed electron temperature and density calculated by the two-fluid model. It is shown that the latter method is more accurate within the plasma, but is inadequate in the scrape-off layer due to the breakdown of the linearized temperature equation in the two-fluid model. The resulting synthetic emission is compared to measured SXR data, which show helical m = 11 ± 1 displacements around the 11/3 rational surface of sizes up to 5 cm, depending on the poloidal angle. The helical displacements around the 11/3 surface are identified to be directly related to the kink response, caused by amplification of non-resonant components of the magnetic field due to plasma response. The role of different plasma parameters is investigated, but it appears that the electron rotation plays a key role in the formation of screening and resonant amplification, while the kinking appears to be sensitive to the edge current density. It is also hypothesized that the plasma response affects the edge-localized-mode (ELM) stability, i.e. the discharges operational point relative to the peeling–ballooning stability boundary.

The effects of an open and closed divertor on particle exhaust during edge-localized mode suppression by resonant magnetic perturbations in DIII-D

This paper compares the effects of divertor geometry on particle exhaust characteristics during the suppression of ELM using resonant magnetic perturbations (RMPs) on DIII-D. The subject is timely, particularly for ITER, because the combination of techniques to control or mitigate ELMs and control particle exhaust can provide confidence in the ability of an external pumping system to fully remove the particle exhaust. The differences between an open and closed divertor magnetic topology show a strong coupling of the perturbed strikepoint to the pumping manifold in closed divertor configurations, which can increase the particle exhaust by a factor of four. There is also an observed dependence on q95 in this configuration, which is a common feature of RMP ELM suppression. Neutral density in both the active and non-active divertors is seen to increase during the RMP in the ISS configuration, and edge plasma conditions (i.e. ne,sep and midplane profile of Dα) are seen to increase in the closed divertor configuration. Finally, the pumping exhaust is also shown to have a strong dependence on local measurements of the recycling flux. These observations, when taken as a whole, point to a substantial change in the plasma edge conditions, i.e. near the LCFS, throughout the poloidal cross-section of the vacuum vessel. This is coincident with the application of the RMP affecting the pumping capability of the system.

Connection between plasma response and resonant magnetic perturbation (RMP) edge localized mode (ELM) suppression in DIII-D

Calculations of the plasma response to applied non-axisymmetric fields in several DIII-D discharges show that predicted displacements depend strongly on the edge current density. This result is found using both a linear two-fluid-MHD model (M3D-C1) and a nonlinear ideal-MHD model (VMEC). Furthermore, it is observed that the probability of a discharge being edge localized mode (ELM)-suppressed is most closely related to the edge current density, as opposed to the pressure gradient. It is found that discharges with a stronger kink response are closer to the peeling–ballooning stability limit in ELITE simulations and eventually cross into the unstable region, causing ELMs to reappear. Thus for effective ELM suppression, the RMP has to prevent the plasma from generating a large kink response, associated with ELM instability. Experimental observations are in agreement with the finding; discharges which have a strong kink response in the MHD simulations show ELMs or ELM mitigation during the RMP phase of the experiment, while discharges with a small kink response in the MHD simulations are fully ELM suppressed in the experiment by the applied resonant magnetic perturbation. The results are cross-checked against modeled 3D ideal MHD equilibria using the VMEC code. The procedure of constructing optimal 3D equilibria for diverted H-mode discharges using VMEC is presented. Kink displacements in VMEC are found to scale with the edge current density, similar to M3D-C1, but the displacements are smaller. A direct correlation in the flux surface displacements to the bootstrap current is shown.