G. R. Hanson

Ion cyclotron range of frequencies heating and flow generation in deuterium–tritium plasmas

Recent radio-frequency heating experiments on the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) [Hawryluk et al., Plasma Phys. Controlled Fusion 33, 1509 (1991)] have focused on developing tools for both pressure and current profile control in deuterium–tritium (DT) plasmas. A new antenna was added to investigate pressure profile control utilizing direct ion Bernstein wave (IBW) heating. This was the first time direct IBW heating was explored on TFTR. Plasma heating and driven poloidal flows are observed. Previously heating and current drive via mode-converted IBW waves had been demonstrated in non-DT plasmas but efforts in DT plasmas had been unsuccessful. This lack of success had been ascribed to the presence of a small 7Li minority ion population. In the most recent experiments 6Li was used exclusively for machine conditioning and mode-conversion heating consistent with theory is now observed in DT plasmas.

Density fluctuation measurements in ATF using correlation reflectometry

A two-frequency correlation reflectometer has been operated on the Advanced Toroidal Facility (ATF) to measure plasma electron density fluctuations. This reflectometer uses quadrature phase detection to permit true phase measurement of the reflected microwave signal (probing beam). By measuring the phase fluctuations in the reflected probing beam, the amplitude of the density fluctuations can be estimated. Simultaneous two-frequency operation makes it possible to measure the coherence between fluctuations at two radially separated cut-off layers, from which the radial correlation lengths and wavenumbers can be estimated. This reflectometer has been used to study the density fluctuations in the edge gradient region of low density ATF plasmas produced by electron cyclotron heating. These studies have revealed globally coherent turbulence with a radial correlation length of up to approximately 5 cm, a radial wavenumber kr ≈ 0 cm-1 and a poloidal wavenumber kθ ≈ 1 cm-1. The rms amplitude of the fluctuations reaches a maximum of ≈ 5% at the plasma edge (ρ = 1, where ρ is the flux surface normalized radius) and decreases with decreasing radius to a level of 1%. Simultaneous measurements of the fluctuations with the reflectometer, the heavy ion beam probe and the fast reciprocating Langmuir probe provide consistent results. A comparison of the measurements with simplistic mixing length estimates, ne/ne = 1/kθLn or ne/ne = 1/krLn, shows that these estimates are too high by factors of two to more than 100, while a comparison with a more detailed estimate for the pressure gradient driven resistive interchange turbulence yields reasonable agreement with the experimentally measured fluctuation characteristics

ICRF heating and profile control techniques in TFTR

In fast wave to ion Bernstein wave mode conversion experiments in DT supershot plasmas, localized efficient ion heating rather than electron heating was observed, which was due to Doppler broadened tritium cyclotron resonance overlap into the mode conversion region. The ion temperature heat pulse associated with RF power modulation in this regime could provide a diagnostic tool for measuring the local ion thermal conductivity in various confinement regimes. In direct launch ion Bernstein wave heating experiments, core power coupling was limited by the excitation of parasitic edge modes. However, a sheared poloidal flow was observed that is consistent in both magnitude and direction with theoretical models based on RF driven Reynolds stress. With the modest power coupled to the core (~360 kW), the magnitude of the shear in the observed flow was estimated to be a factor of 3-4 too low to trigger transport barrier formation through localized shear suppression of turbulence.

Drift‐wave‐like density fluctuations in the Advanced Toroidal Facility (ATF) torsatron

Density fluctuations in low‐collisionality, low‐beta (β∼0.1%), currentless plasmas produced with electron cyclotron heating (ECH) in the Advanced Toroidal Facility (ATF) torsatron [Fusion Technol. 10, 179 (1986)] have been studied using a 2 mm microwave scattering diagnostic. Pulsed gas puffing is used to produce transient steepening of the density profile from its typically flat shape; this leads to growth in the density fluctuations when the temperature and density gradients both point in the same direction in the confinement region. The wave number spectra of the fluctuations that appear during this perturbation have a maximum at higher k⊥ρs (∼1) than is typically seen in tokamaks. The in–out asymmetry of the fluctuations along the major radius correlates with the distribution of confined trapped particles expected for the ATF magnetic field geometry. During the perturbation, the relative level of the density fluctuations in the confinement region (integrated over normalized minor radii ρ from 0.5 to 0...

Experimental evidence of edge turbulence driven by multiple mechanisms in ATF

The scaling properties of edge fluctuations have been investigated using Langmuir probes in the edge region of the Advanced Toroidal Facility (ATF). The fluctuations in the ion saturation current (Ĩs/Is) and the transport inferred from the fluctuations increase with increasing density gradient, while the local electron temperature is kept unchanged. The modification of the electron temperature in the range 10-50 eV while keeping the density profile constant does not have any significant influence on Ĩs/Is. In regions where Er/B ≈ 0, the poloidal phase velocity of the fluctuations is given by vph ≈ 2Te/LnB. More than one of the proposed mechanisms must be invoked to explain all the experimental observations