E. Kako

Effect of In Situ Carbon Coating on ICRF-Heated Tokamak Plasmas Relating to Radiation Loss by Iron-Impurities in JIPP T-IIU

The effect of the C-coating has been demonstrated for tokamak plasmas with high power heating. In situ carbon coating has been made with a glow discharge in a methane/hydrogen mixture gas. Without C-coating, iron contamination has been so severe in megawatts of ICRF heating that the total radiation loss exceeds the rf-heating power, and the electron temperature, after once heating up, then decreases continuously during the latter half of 55 ms rf pulse. With C-coating, the radiation loss is reduced to be one fifth of the rf power and the electron temperature Te becomes stationary at the end of the rf pulse. As a result of this change in Te, the total stored energy increases more than the one without C-coating.

Plasma current startup by lower hybrid waves in the JIPP T-IIU tokamak

The paper describes the characteristic behaviour of lower hybrid current startup in JIPP T-IIU. The current startup is carried out by the injection of 800 MHz lower hybrid waves into cold and low density plasmas (Te = 10 − 20 eV, e = (1−2) × 1012 cm−3 produced by electron cyclotron resonance or lower hybrid waves (LHW) only. The plasma current rises with a characteristic rise-time of τr ( 30-50 ms) and approaches a quasi-steady state value, Ipm (= 5-20 kA), whereupon 10-50 kW LHW power is injected into the torus, controlling the vertical field. The rise-time is inversely proportional to the bulk electron density, ne, and is comparable to the collision time of current carrying high energy electrons with the bulk plasmas. On the other hand, the current drive efficiency in the quasi-steady state is almost independent of e, i.e. Ipm/PLH = 0.4−0.7 AW−1 for e = (0.8−4) × 1012 cm−3. The conversion efficiency of RF energy injected into the torus is typically 5% during the current rise phase and 10% in the most efficienct case. The effects of the initial injection of ECH power and the observed parametric instabilities on the current startup are investigated from the viewpoint of seed current generation. During the rapid current rise when an appreciably negative loop voltage is observed, the bulk electrons are heated up to 150 eV. Various heating mechanisms responsible for the bulk electron heating are discussed.

Study on in-situ carbon coating in JIPP T-IIU

The effectiveness of the in-situ carbon coating (carbonization) has been demonstrated to reduce the radiation loss by iron impurities during ICRF heating in the JIPP T-IIU tokamak. As a result of carbonization, the total radiation loss decreased down to one fifth of the RF power, which resulted in an increase in electrons and total stored energy compared with these conditions before carbonization. The thickness of the carbon layer was 300–900 A, and its toroidal uniformity was within a factor of 3, although only one anode and one gas-inlet were used. A thin carbide layer is formed between the C-film and the stainless steel substrate with carbonization at room temperature. The hydrogen concentration is 40–50 at.% in the carbon layer. Deposition of carbon was observed on window materials. The deposition rate was relatively less on electrical insulators compared to the deposition rate on metals.

Impurity origin during ICRF heating in the JIPP T-IIU tokamak

Replacing stainless steel limiters by graphite limiters, we found that radiations from iron and titanium ions were significantly reduced. Total radiation and loop voltage also decreased. This indicates that the limiters are the major impurity sources both in the ohmic and RF heating phases. Although titanium radiations increased with RF power injected by an antenna with a titanium Faraday shield, the maximum intensity was much smaller than in the experiment where the titanium-flashed stainless steel limiters were used. Thus it has been found that the Faraday shield is less important as an impurity source than limiters. Toroidal asymmetry observed for O II radiation suggest that the energetic charge-exchange neutrals play a role in releasing oxygen from the wall and that those energetic particles are relatively abundant in the toroidal sections near the antenna. n nThe Hα + Dα radiation decreases during the RF pulse around the limiter, which may be due to the change in hydrogen/ deuterium recycling at the limiter. The reduction of Hα + Dα is greater with graphite limiters than with stainless steel limiters. The relation between recycling and impurity release is briefly discussed.

Characteristics of ion Bernstein wave heating on the JIPP T-IIU tokamak

Ion Bernstein Wave (IBW) heating has been examined on the JIPP T-IIU tokamak under two different conditions referred to as Mode-I and Mode-II. In the Mode-I regime, a wave is launched on an IBW branch between the third and fourth cyclotron harmonics of deuterium ions. In the Mode-II regime, a wave is launched on a branch between the second and third cyclotron harmonics. These two modes show quite different heating characteristics. The causes of this difference are analysed by using a simple model to determine the k|| spectrum of the excited wave and by applying a ray tracing code. In connection with the Mode-I experiment as discussed in a previous report (1985), two important new experimental results are obtained. It is shown that an IBW heats the core of the plasma rather than causing plasma-edge interaction, as anticipated. It is also shown that the energy tail of the hydrogen ions is higher than that of the deuterium ions, which indicates that the responsible heating mechanisms are different.

ICRF current drive experiment on JIPP T-IIU

In the JIPP T-IIU tokamak an experiment to demonstrate the feasibility of fast wave current drive using five loop antennas has been successfully carried out with a relatively high density plasma (ωpe2/ωce2~5). The RF frequency is 40 MHz and the toroidal field is 2 kG, which corresponds to ω = 13ωcH. The experiment is conducted in the density range e ~ 2 × 1018 m−3 where only the fast wave can propagate, eliminating the possibility of slow wave current drive. This density is two orders of magnitude higher than the density limit predicted for slow wave current drive. The dependence of the drive efficiency on the relative phase difference Δ is clearly observed with a maximum of about Δ = π/4. The plasma current was limited by MHD instability which begins to occur around qa = 10.

Application of the intermediate frequency range fast wave to the JIPP TII-U plasma

A series of experiments has been conducted on the JIPP TII-U tokamak since 1989, using the newly constructed 130 MHz radiofrequency system. It has been predicted theoretically that the fast wave in this frequency range interacts weakly with particles. Two mechanisms of wave absorption have been identified in the experiment: electron Landau damping/transit time damping and 3rd harmonic ion cyclotron heating. The former mechanism is intimately connected with fast wave current drive and the latter can provide a new regime of plasma heating or a possible method of controlling the transport of alpha particles. It is found that the efficiency of the 3rd harmonic ion cyclotron heating is improved by using it in combination with neutral beam injection and ion cyclotron range of frequency heating. The heating efficiency obtained is as high as that of conventional heating. The experimental results are also analysed on the basis of a global wave theory which takes into account wave-particle interactions. These mechanisms of interaction are competing with each other; this will also be the case under more realistic reactor conditions.

Electron cyclotron heating of stellarator plasma with ordinary and extraordinary modes in JIPP T-II

Experimental studies of electron cyclotron heating in a stellarator plasma have been carried out by injecting 40 kW of 35.5 GHz microwave power. Electron cyclotron heating with the ordinary and the extraordinary modes injected from the low-field side show almost the same heating efficiency of 2.2 ? 1013 eV?cm?3?kW?1 at the average electron density of 6 ? 1012 cm?3. Efficient heating by the extraordinary mode in the presence of the cyclotron cut-off is interpreted to be achieved by the penetration of scattered waves from high- and low-field sides, polarization being disturbed by microwave reflection from the vacuum chamber wall.

Limiter H-mode and other improved confinement regimes with ICRF and NBI heating in JIPP T-IIU

The H-mode, an improved confinement regime, was attained recently in JIPP T-IIU high power heating experiments, in a limiter configuration without any shaping of the plasma cross-section. This H-mode is unusual because it was obtained with heating in the ion cyclotron range of frequencies (ICRF). It was also attained with combined ICRF and neutral beam injection (NBI) heating. The threshold power level obtained with ICRF alone is similar to or less than that obtained in the combined heating case. The dependence of the power threshold of the H-mode on various plasma parameters has been studied. It increases with the plasma current and is insensitive to the plasma density, and there is an optimum value of the toroidal field intensity. The power deposition profile for ICRF heating has been analysed with a ray tracing code and used to explain the observed dependence on the toroidal magnetic field. The paper also discusses a class of discharges with improved confinement observed in the same series of experiments. These discharges had a power level close to the H-mode threshold power and exhibited a marked improvement of confinement. They were, however, different from H-mode discharges in the time evolution of the profiles.

HEATING SYSTEMS OF LARGE SUPERCONDUCTING HELICAL DEVICE

The heating systems for the new large helical device which has been designed as a joint effort among Japanese universities are reported. The conceptional design of the heating devices and basic hardware structures are discussed. ECH heating system (112 GH z ) with maximum power of around 10MW is proposed to produce and heat the net current-less plasma. For the further heatings, NBI (20 MW, 100 kV, H 0 ) and ICRF (9 MW, 30–90 MH z ) heating systems have been considered. High energy particle loss, which is a fairly serious problem in helical configurations (stellarator/heliotron), have been analyzed numerically. Monte-Carlo calculation shows that, for tangential injection, the beam energy over 100 kV is necessary to obtain the thermalization efficiency of above 60% inside the half radius. On the fast-wave (ICRF) heating, theoretical analysis of the wave field and velocity distribution function, which includes the loss cone effect, has been developed. In the case of 3 He minority heating, the orbit loss problem becomes small than in the case of proton minority heating. From these theoretical analysis and hardware considerations, the required thermalized power of around 20 MW can be obtained by ECH, NBI and ICRF heatings.