G. H. Hu

Characterizations of power loads on divertor targets for type-I, compound and small ELMs in the EAST superconducting tokamak

The Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) has recently achieved a variety of H-mode regimes with different edge-localized mode (ELM) dynamics, including type-I ELMs, compound ELMs, which are manifested by the onset of a large spike followed by a sequence of small spikes on Dα emissions, usual type-III ELMs, and very small ELMs. This newly observed very small ELMy H-mode appears to be similar to the type-II ELMy H-mode, with higher repetition frequency (~1 kHz) and lower amplitude than the type-III ELMy H-mode, exhibiting an intermediate confinement level between type-I and type-III ELMy H-modes. The energy loss and divertor power load are systematically characterized for these different ELMy H-modes to provide a physics basis for the next-step high-power long-pulse operations in EAST. Both type-I and compound ELMs exhibit good confinement (H98(y,2) ~ 1). A significant loss of the plasma stored energy occurs at the onset of type-I ELMs (~8%) and compound ELMs (~5%), while no noticeable change in the plasma stored energy is observed for the small ELMs, including both type-III ELMs and very small ELMs. The peak heat flux on divertor targets for type-I ELMs currently achieved in EAST is about 10 MW m−2, as determined from the divertor-embedded triple Langmuir probe system with high time resolution. As expected, type-III ELMs lead to much smaller divertor power loads with a peak heat flux of about 2 MW m−2. Peak power loads for compound ELMs are between those for type-I and type-III ELMs. It is remarkable that the new very small ELMy H-modes exhibit even lower target power deposition than type-III ELMs, with the peak heat flux generally below 1 MW m−2. These very small ELMs are usually accompanied by broadband fluctuations with frequencies ranging from 20 to 50 kHz, which may promote particle and power exhaust throughout the very small ELMy H-mode regime.

Dynamics of L-H transition and I-phase in EAST

The turbulence and flows at the plasma edge during the L–I–H, L–I–L and single-step L–H transitions have been measured directly using two reciprocating Langmuir probe systems at the outer midplane with several newly designed probe arrays in the EAST superconducting tokamak. The Exa0×xa0B velocity, turbulence level and turbulent Reynolds stress at ∼1xa0cm inside the separatrix ramp-up in the last ∼20xa0ms preceding the single-step L–H transition, but remain nearly constant near the separatrix, indicating an increase in the radial gradients at the plasma edge. The kinetic energy transfer rate from the edge turbulence to the Exa0×xa0B flows is significantly enhanced only in the last ∼10xa0ms and peaks just prior to the L–H transition. The Exa0×xa0B velocity measured inside the separatrix, which is typically in the electron diamagnetic drift direction in the L-mode, decays towards the ion diamagnetic drift direction in response to fluctuation suppression at the onset of the single-step L–H, L–I–L as well as L–I–H transitions. One important distinction between the L–I–H and the L–I–L transitions has been observed, with respect to the evolution of the edge pressure gradient and mean Exa0×xa0B flow during the I-phase. Both of them ramp up gradually during the L–I–H transition, but change little during the L–I–L transition, which may indicate that a gradual buildup of the edge pedestal and mean Exa0×xa0B flow during the I-phase leads to the final transition into the H-mode. In addition, the transition data in EAST strongly suggest that the divertor pumping capability is an important ingredient in determining the transition behaviour and power threshold.

Scaling of divertor power footprint width in RF-heated type-III ELMy H-mode on the EAST superconducting tokamak

Dedicated experiments for the scaling of divertor power footprint width have been performed in the ITER-relevant radiofrequency (RF)-heated H-mode scheme under the lower single null, double null and upper single null divertor configurations in the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) under lithium wall coating conditioning. A strong inverse scaling of the edge localized mode (ELM)-averaged power fall-off width with the plasma current (equivalently the poloidal field) has been demonstrated for the attached type-III ELMy H-mode as λq ∝ I −1.05 p by various heat flux diagnostics including the divertor Langmuir probes (LPs), infra-red (IR) thermograph and reciprocating LPs on the low-field side. The IR camera and divertor LP measurements show that λq,IR ≈ λq,div-LPs/1.3 = 1.15B −1.25 p,omp , in good agreement with the multi-machine scaling trend during the inter-ELM phase between type-I ELMs or ELM-free enhanced Dα (EDA). H-mode. However, the magnitude is nearly doubled, which may be attributed to the different operation scenarios or heating schemes in EAST, i.e., dominated by electron heating. It is also shown that the type-III ELMs only broaden the power fall-off width slightly, and the ELM-averaged width is representative for the inter-ELM period. Furthermore, the inverse Ip (Bp) scaling appears to be independent of the divertor configurations in EAST. The divertor power footprint integral width, fall-off width and dissipation width derived from EAST IR camera measurements follow the relation, λint ∼ λq +1.64S, yielding λ EAST = (1.39±0.03)λ EAST +(0.97±0.35) mm. Detailed analysis of these three characteristic widths was carried out to shed more light on their extrapolation to ITER.

Fast electron flux driven by lower hybrid wave in the scrape-off layer

The fast electron flux driven by Lower Hybrid Wave (LHW) in the scrape-off layer (SOL) in EAST is analyzed both theoretically and experimentally. The five bright belts flowing along the magnetic field lines in the SOL and hot spots at LHW guard limiters observed by charge coupled device and infrared cameras are attributed to the fast electron flux, which is directly measured by retarding field analyzers (RFA). The current carried by the fast electron flux, ranging from 400 to 6000u2009A/m2 and in the direction opposite to the plasma current, is scanned along the radial direction from the limiter surface to the position about 25u2009mm beyond the limiter. The measured fast electron flux is attributed to the high parallel wave refractive index n|| components of LHW. According to the antenna structure and the LHW power absorbed by plasma, a broad parallel electric field spectrum of incident wave from the antennas is estimated. The radial distribution of LHW-driven current density is analyzed in SOL based on Landau d...

Observations of the effect of lower hybrid waves on ELM behaviour in EAST

Dedicated experiments focusing on the influence of lower hybrid waves (LHWs) on edge-localized modes (ELMs) were first performed during the 2012 experimental campaign of EAST, via modulating the input power of LHWs in the high-confinement-mode (H-mode) plasma mainly sustained by ion cyclotron resonant heating. Natural ELMs are effectively mitigated (ELM frequency increases, while its intensity decreases dramatically) as the LHW is applied, observed over a fairly wide range of plasma current or edge safety factor. By scanning the modulation frequency (fm) of LHW injected power in a target plasma dominated by the so-called small ELMs, we conclude that large ELMs with markedly larger amplitudes and lower frequencies are reproduced at low modulation frequencies (fmxa0<xa0100xa0Hz). Analysis of the evolution of edge extreme ultraviolet radiation signals further indicates that plasma fluctuations at the pedestal region indistinctively respond to rapid modulation (fmxa0⩾xa0100xa0Hz) of LHW injected power. This is proposed as the mechanism responsible for the observed fm dependence of the mitigation effect induced by LHWs on large ELMs. In addition, a critical threshold of LHW input power PLHW is estimated as , beyond which the impact of applied LHWs on ELM behaviours can be achieved. Finally, Langmuir probe measurements suggest that, rather than the concentration of free energy into a narrowband quasi-coherent precursor commonly observed growing until the ELM crash, the continuous development of broadband turbulence during the ELM-absent phase with the application of LHWs might contribute to the avoidance of ELM crashes. These results present new insights into existing experiments, and also provide some foundations and references for the next-step research about exploring in more depth and improving this new attractive method to effectively control the ELM-induced very large transient heat and particle flux.

Velocimetry of edge turbulence during the dithering L–H transition with dynamic programming based time-delay estimation technique in the EAST superconducting tokamak

A dual gas puff imaging (GPI) system has been successfully assembled on the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) and applied for the study of the dithering L–H transition in the 2012 spring campaign. A new method i.e., the dynamic programming based time-delay estimation technique, has been applied to the 64xa0×xa064 pixels GPI video images to yield time-dependent two-dimensional velocity fields at the plasma edge on EAST. Local poloidal flow velocities up to ∼−3xa0kmxa0s−1 (in the electron diamagnetic direction) and radial flow velocities up to ∼−2xa0kmxa0s−1 (inward) are found inside the separatrix during a dithering burst. The radial and poloidal cross-correlation length, flow velocity and auto-correlation time inside the separatrix increase preceding the dithering burst and decrease following the dithering burst. These observations provide strong evidence for the shear flows playing an important role during the dithering L–H transition.

Development of a high current 60 keV neutral lithium beam injector for beam emission spectroscopy measurements on fusion experiments

A 60 keV neutral lithium beam system was designed and built up for beam emission spectroscopy measurement of edge plasma on the KSTAR and EAST tokamaks. The electron density profile and its fluctuation can be measured using the accelerated lithium beam-based emission spectroscopy system. A thermionic ion source was developed with a SiC heater to emit around 4-5 mA ion current from a 14 mm diameter surface. The ion optic is following the 2 step design used on other devices with small modifications to reach about 2-3 cm beam diameter in the plasma at about 4 m from the ion source. A newly developed recirculating sodium vapour neutralizer neutralizes the accelerated ion beam at around 260-280 °C even during long (<20 s) discharges. A set of new beam diagnostic and manipulation techniques are applied to allow optimization, aiming, cleaning, and beam modulation. The maximum 60 keV beam energy with 4 mA ion current was successfully reached at KSTAR and at EAST. Combined with an efficient observation system, the Li-beam diagnostic enables the measurement of the density profile and fluctuations on the plasma turbulence time scale.

Edge-coherent-mode nature of the small edge localized modes in Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak

High-confinement regime with high-frequency and low-energy-loss small edge localized modes (ELMs) was achieved in Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak by using the lower hybrid current drive and ion cyclotron resonance heating with lithium wall conditioning. The small ELMs are usually accompanied with a quasi-coherent mode at frequency around 30 kHz, as detected by the Langmuir probes near the separatrix. The coherent mode, with weak magnetic perturbations different from the precursor of conventional ELMs, propagates in the electron diamagnetic drift direction in the lab frame with the poloidal wavelength λθu2009∼u200914u2009cm, corresponding to both high poloidal and toroidal mode numbers (mu2009>u200960 and nu2009>u200912). This coherent mode, carrying high-temperature high-density filament-like plasma, drives considerable transport from the pedestal region into the scrape-off layer towards divertor region. The co-existence of small ELMs and quasi-coherent modes is beneficial for the sustainment of long pulse H-mode regime without significant confinement degradation.

Influence of helium puff on divertor asymmetry in Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak

Divertor asymmetries with helium puffing are investigated in various divertor configurations on Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST). The outer divertor electron temperature decreases significantly during the gas injection at the outer midplane. As soon as the gas is injected into the edge plasma, the power deposition drops sharply at the lower outer target while increases gradually at the lower inner target in LSN configuration; the power deposition increases quickly at the upper outer target while remains unchanged at the upper inner target in upper single null configuration; the power deposition increases slightly at the outer targets while shows no obvious variation at the inner targets in double null configuration. The radiated power measured by the extreme ultraviolet arrays increases significantly due to helium gas injection, especially in the outer divertor. The edge parameters are measured by reciprocating probes at the outer midplane, showing that the electron temperature and density increase but the parallel Mach number decreases significantly due to the gas injection. Effects of poloidal E × B drifts and parallel SOL flows on the divertor asymmetry observed in EAST are also discussed.

Enhanced-recycling H-mode regimes with edge coherent modes achieved by RF heating with lithium-wall conditioning in the EAST superconducting tokamak

Two enhanced-recycling H-mode regimes, named low-enhanced-recycling (LER) and high-enhanced-recycling (HER) H-mode regimes, with edge coherent modes, have been achieved by lower hybrid current drive and ion cyclotron resonance heating with lithium-wall conditioning in the EAST superconducting tokamak. In the LER H-mode regime, the density and radiation increase during the ELM-free phase until the onset of edge-localized modes (ELMs), while in the HER H-mode regime, the density and radiation are well controlled without the presence of ELMs. Both LER and HER H-modes exhibit a low-frequency (frequency 170?kHz appears shortly (<1?ms) after the transition during HER H-modes. Both ECM and HFM propagate in the electron diamagnetic drift direction in the lab frame with a low poloidal wavelength and may be responsible for enhanced recycling during the ELM-free phase. These two enhanced-recycling H-mode regimes may have significant implications for long-pulse high-performance operations in future fusion experiments.