G. Fussmann

A study of runaway electron confinement in the ASDEX tokamak

The results of runaway electron confinement experiments from ASDEX are analysed to elucidate the structure of electromagnetic turbulence which may cause anomalous electron heat transport in the L-mode confinement regime. From a simple model, the radial correlation length (W) of the magnetic turbulence is determined to be about 1 mm. Using this value and that of the experimentally deduced electron thermal diffusivity, the authors determine the radial magnetic fluctuation level at the plasma edge in the L-mode to be (r/B0) ~ 2 × 10−4. Scalings of W and r/B0 are deduced from parameter scans. From a comparison of these results with the predictions of various theoretical models, it is concluded that skin depth turbulence, electromagnetic drift wave turbulence, rippling modes, and microtearing modes are inferior candidates and that resistive ballooning modes offer the best possibility for a consistent interpretation of the data.

Long-living plasmoids from an atmospheric water discharge

Ball-like plasmoids were generated from discharging a capacitor bank via a water surface. In the autonomous stage after current zero they have diameters up to 0.2?m and lifetimes of some hundreds of milliseconds, thus resembling ball lightning in some way. They were studied by applying high speed cameras, electric probes, calorimetric measurements, and spectroscopy. The plasmoids are found to consist of a true plasma surrounded by a cold envelope. Decreasing electron densities in the order of 1020?1022?m?3 were measured from Stark broadening in the initial (formation) phase. The electron temperature is estimated to be 2000?5000?K during most of the plasmoids lifetime. The temperature of the neutral particles can exceed 1300?K. Calcium hydroxide molecular band emission is the major source of visible radiation in the autonomous phase. Chemiluminescence reactions between dissociation products of water and dissolved calcium are proposed as a source for this emission. The plasmoids colder boundary layer consists of electric double layers that may be attributed to the characteristic shape of the balls.

Measurement of the radial electric field in the ASDEX tokamak

Estimates of the radial electric field Er at the plasma periphery are obtained by measuring the drift velocities of low-Z impurity ions (He II, B IV, C III). The drift velocities are determined from the differential Doppler shift of visible line emission observed along opposite viewing directions. The principle of the measurement, including contributions from the diamagnetic drift, as well as radial gradients in the excitation rate and the effect of integrating along the line of sight are discussed in detail. The measured line of sight averaged drift velocities can be strongly influenced by the location and shape of the Er profile, especially if, as measured on other tokamaks, it is localized to a narrow region just within the separatrix. Values of Er estimated by assuming a constant radial profile underestimate maximum local values. During the H*-phase, however, high line of sight averaged perpendicular drift velocities of the B IV ions of a least 15 km/s in the electron diamagnetic drift direction are observed. From this, the presence of a strong negative radial electric field of at least 25 kV/m in the plasma edge region is inferred. Values of the B IV ion poloidal drift velocity calculated from an appropriate neoclassical theory are in the same direction as those measured. However, the calculated line of sight averaged values are much smaller than the measured ones. This reinforces the conclusion that a strong negative radial electric field is present just within the separatrix during the H-mode

Impurity transport and neoclassical predictions

The authors present a brief review of collisional (classical and neoclassical) and anomalous transport. Particular emphasis is devoted to the question of charge independence of the anomalous transport coefficients and the combined action of anomalous and collisional transport. In the light of these results the experimental facts are analysed and interpreted. It is found that impurity accumulation-characterized by peaked zeff-profiles-is caused by the combined effects of improved confinement (i.e. reduction of anomalous transport) and peaking of the electron density profile. For the cases of pellet refuelled plasmas and counter neutral injection heating quantitative comparisons are performed which show good agreement between the experimental measurements and simulations based upon neoclassical theory.

Analytical modelling of impurity transport in toroidal devices

The review deals with the present-day knowledge of the fundamentals of impurity, transport in tokamaks and stellarators. Emphasis is put on the processes in the edge region, which are of crucial importance for wall-produced impurities. For the anomalous transport model, closed analytic expressions for the stationary case are derived which allow the importance of various transport and plasma parameters to be estimated. Some general features of non-stationary problems are also discussed. In particular, the definitions and essentials of various characteristic times are dealt with. Moreover, questions of diffusive penetration and impurity screening are clarified.

Density Limit Investigations on ASDEX

Density limit investigations on ASDEX have been performed under a variety of conditions: ohmically heated and neutral injection heated plasmas in H2, D2 and He have been studied in different divertor configurations, after various wall coating procedures, with gas puff and pellet fuelling, and in different confinement regimes with their characteristically different density profiles. A detailed description of the parametric dependence of the density limit, which in all cases is a disruptive limit, is given. This limit is shown to be a limit to the density at the plasma edge. Therefore, the highest densities corresponding to neRqa/Bt>30*1019 m-2.T-1 are obtained with centrally peaked ne profiles. Radiation from the main plasma at the density limit is always significantly below the total input power. The plasma disruption is due to an m=2 instability which for medium and high qa is preceded by one or more minor disruptions. In this range of qa, the disruptive instability is initiated by the occurrence of a Marfe on the high field side as a consequence of strong plasma cooling in this region. The duration of the Marfe increases with increasing distance between the plasma edge and the q=2 surface. After penetrating onto closed flux surfaces the Marfe leads to a current contraction and a subsequent destabilization of the m = 2 mode. In helium plasmas a strongly radiating, poloidally symmetric shell is observed before the density limit instead of a Marfe. An instantaneous destabilization of this mode is observed at low qa. Detailed measurements of plasma edge and divertor parameters close to the density limit indicate the development of a cold, dense divertor plasma before the disruption. Models describing the scrape-off layer and the divertor region predict an upper limit to the edge density at low divertor temperatures according to power balance considerations. Their relations to the experimental findings, especially the low field side cooling, ar

Divertor Parameters and Divertor Operation in ASDEX

Abstract Recent measurements of plasma boundary and divertor scrape-off parameters for ohmically and neutral injection heated plasmas are presented. For these data the power flow onto the divertor plates and the sputtering rates at the plates are calculated and compared with separate measurements. The impurity behaviour in front of the plates is also discussed.

Divertor efficiency in ASDEX

Abstract The divertor efficiency in ASDEX is discussed for ohmically heated plasmas. The parameters of the boundary layer both in the torus midplane and the divertor chamber have been measured. The results are reasonably well understood in terms of parallel and perpendicular transport. A high pressure of neutral hydrogen builds up in the divertor chamber and Franck-Condon particles recycle back through the divertor throat. Due to dissociation processes the boundary plasma is effectively cooled before it reaches the neutralizer plates. The shielding property of the boundary layer against impurity influx is comparable to that of a limiter plasma. The transport of iron is numerically simulated for an iron influx produced by sputtering of charge exchange neutrals at the wall. The results are consistent with the measured iron concentration. First results from a comparison of the poloidal divertor with toroidally closed limiters (stainless steel, carbon) are given. Diverted discharges are considerably cleaner and easier to create.

Low energy neutral particle fluxes to the walls of ASDEX during He and D2 discharges

Neutral particle fluxes onto the walls of ASDEX have been investigated using a time-of-flight (TOF) method. The energy distributions of the neutrals could be determined in the range of 10–1000 eV/amu. Ohmic divertor and limiter discharges with equal plasma currents and densities have been compared for He and D2. The He0 outflux at ∼2000 eV from He discharges is 110 of the corresponding D0 flux in D2 discharges. At lower energies this difference is much smaller. In all cases many more He neutrals were observed than was anticipated from the CX rate-coefficients for He2+. The impurity fluxes due to sputtering by the CX-neutrals show no significant difference for He and D2 discharges. For divertor discharges CX-sputtering can fully account for the Fe impurity content determined spectroscopically.

Characterization of the angular momentum transport in ASDEX

Angular momentum transport studies were conducted for nearly stationary situations of about 50 neutral-beam-heated ASDEX discharges under a variety of experimental conditions. Comparison of the confinement times of angular momentum and energy reveals close similarities between thermal and perpendicular momentum transport. Scaling laws are derived for the dependence of the central rotation speed, the momentum confinement time and the radially-averaged momentum diffusivity from the main experimental parameters of L-mode discharges. A well-developed isotope effect, significant power degradation and a favourable current scaling are found to be characteristic features of momentum confinement. The L-mode results are compared with the momentum transport behaviour during the improved confinement phase of H-mode, pellet-fuelled and counter-NI discharges. For the H-mode, the confinement improvement is comparable for momentum and energy. The peaked density profile scenarios exhibit a considerably more pronounced increase in momentum confinement than in energy confinement.