Ge Zhuang

Overview of the recent research on the J-TEXT tokamak

The experimental research over last two years on the J-TEXT tokamak is summarized and presented in the paper. The high-performance polarimeter-interferometer developed on J-TEXT, aiming to measure electron density and Faraday angle simultaneously, has time response up to 1 µs, phase resolution <0.1° and spatial resolution ~3 cm. Such high resolution permits investigations of fast equilibrium dynamics as well as magnetic and density perturbations associated with magnetohydrodynamic instabilities. Particle transport due to the sawtooth crashes is analysed. The sawteeth only partially flatten the core density profile and recovery between crashes implies an inward pinch velocity extending to the centre. The resonant magnetic perturbation (RMP) system on J-TEXT can generate a rotating helical field perturbation with a maximum rotation frequency up to 6 kHz, and dominant resonant modes of m/n = 2/1, 3/1 or 1/1. It is found that tearing modes can be easily locked and then rotate together with a rotating RMP. The effects of RMPs on plasma flows and fluctuations are studied with Langmuir probe arrays at the plasma edge. The toroidal velocity increases and the radial electric field decreases with RMP coil current when the RMP current is no more than 5 kA. When the RMP current reaches 6 kA, the toroidal velocity profile becomes flattened near the last closed flux surface. The geodesic acoustic mode is damped in most of the edge region, while the low frequency zonal flow is damped inside the islands, but increases at its boundary.

Understanding the effect of resonant magnetic perturbations on tearing mode dynamics

Numerical understandings of the effect of resonant magnetic perturbations (RMPs) on 2/1 tearing mode (TM) dynamics observed on J-TEXT tokamak (Hu et al. Nucl. Fusion 52, 083011 (2012)) are presented in this paper. The non-uniform mode rotation frequency, modulated by electromagnetic force (Fem ) and viscous force (Fvs ), results in the applied RMPs contributing both net stabilizing and braking effect on TM. Numerical evaluation based on analytical theory shows the applied RMP contributes a dominant stabilizing effect, which is responsible for the suppression of TM. The dynamics of the first discovered small locked island are investigated. It is found that the island is locked at the stabilizing phase and the saturated island width is less than the linear layer width. The simulated Mirnov signal indicates the small locked island is likely to be the complete suppression case observed in experiments. Associated with the application of RMP, the shape of Mirnov signal deviates from sinusoidal before mode locking, which is explained by numerical modeling. The comparisons between the numerical and experimental results are in good agreement phenomenally.

Design of the In-Vessel Magnetic Coils for Generating a Rotating Resonant Magnetic Perturbation on the J-TEXT Tokamak Plasma

To investigate the interactions between external resonant magnetic perturbations (RMPs) and a tokamak plasma, a set of saddle coils are designed for the J-TEXT. A method for designing RMP field structure based on Fourier transform is used in this paper. Since the coils will be mounted inside the vacuum vessel where the pressure is about 10-7, an airproof multi-layer structure is adopted to avoid contaminating the vacuum environment. Besides, stress and thermal analysis and the AC response of magnetic field are also given.

The 7-channel FIR HCN interferometer on J-TEXT tokamak

A seven-channel far-infrared hydrogen cyanide (HCN) laser interferometer has been established aiming to provide the line integrated plasma density for the J-TEXT experimental scenarios. A continuous wave glow discharge HCN laser designed with a cavity length 3.4 m is used as the laser source with a wavelength of 337 μm and an output power up to 100 mW. The system is configured as a Mach-Zehnder type interferometer. Phase modulation is achieved by a rotating grating, with a modulation frequency of 10 kHz which corresponds to the temporal resolution of 0.1 ms. The beat signal is detected by TGS detector. The phase shift induced by the plasma is derived by the comparator with a phase sensitivity of 0.06 fringe. The experimental results measured by the J-TEXT interferometer are presented in details. In addition, the inversed electron density profile done by a conventional approach is also given. The kinematic viscosity of dimethyl silicone and vibration control is key issues for the system performance. The laser power stability under different kinematic viscosity of silicone oil is presented. A visible improvement of measured result on vibration reduction is shown in the paper.

Progress of the in-building J-TEXT FIR three-wave polarimeter

A Far-infrared (FIR) polarimeter has been designed and is under development on J-TEXT tokamak. J-TEXT polarimeter is proposed to measure internal plasma magnetic field and electron density simultaneously, with a temporal resolution of ~ 1 μs and spatial resolution up to 1.5 cm. After earlier conceptual design, extended work has been done for the system set-up and optimization. The configuration of J-TEXT polarimeter has been improved for better performance, and is more compatible to adapt to limited port space. Three FIR lasers at 432 μm are already prepared and tested, which are capable to maintain more than 30 mW/cavity output for 8 hours without manual control. The output characteristics of beam expansion optics employed for the multichannel arrangement are measured and show a good agreement with expectation. A bench test is carried out to assure the feasibility and reliability of the system. Phase resolution of < 1 mrad is obtained, which meets the requirement of measurement. Vibration tests on the mechanical supporting structure are conducted to verify and improve the system environment. Vibration reduction is achieved by optimizing mechanical structures, and the preliminary results show a decrease on vibration amplitude of up to two orders. The first result of J-TEXT polarimeter is expected to be obtained during the next experimental campaign of J-TEXT tokamak.

First results of the J-TEXT high-resolution 3-wave polarimeter-interferometer system

A far-infrared laser polarimeter-interferometer system based on Three-wave technique has been established on the J-TEXT tokamak. The system determines Faraday angle by measuring phase difference between two collinear, counter-rotating, circularly polarized laser beams, and acquires line-integrated electron density simultaneously by phase comparison between the two beams and a third local oscilate (LO) beam. Three seperately pumped HCOOH lasers at 432 ?m are adopted as sources, suppling more than 100 mW power output in sum. Parabolic mirrors are used to expand probe beams to 450 mm wide, covering ~ 80% of plasma cross section, which allows profile measurement with high spatial resolution. First experimental results of the polarimeter-interferometer have been obtained. 12 chords (3 cm chord spacing) simultaneous polarimetric and interferometric measurements are achieved, with phase resolution up to 0.1? at bandwidth of 50 kHz. With the high temporal and phase resolution, perturbations associated with the sawtooth cycle and MHD activity have been observed.

The J-TEXT Tokamak Control System

The J-TEXT tokamak is a complex experiment facility. Its running refers many subsystems, such as various power supply systems, a gas puffing system, many diagnostic systems, a safety protection system, etc. So it asks for a control system to manage the process of discharge. This paper presents the functions of control system for the J-TEXT tokamak, describes its structure, and introduces the realization based on QNX real time operating system. Results obtained demonstrate that the control system handles the discharge process perfectly. However, it will be continued to improve to meet much more requirement and get more perfect performance.

Analysis of the Soft-Start Circuit of the High Voltage Power Supply Based on PSM Technology

The power supply based on pulse step modulation technology has been widely used as the high-voltage power supply (HVPS) for additional heating systems. The topology contains numbers of converters and multisecondary transformers. For the magnetizing inrush of the transformer and charging current of the converters connecting with the secondary windings of transformer, the power up of the power supply system is quite complex. There are resistor branches series with the transformer and each converter is used to limit the inrush current. A lot of resister branches and parallel contactors in the converter modules are required, and as a result the dissipation and electromagnetic interference inside the module are serious. In this paper, the soft-start circuit is simplified to only one resistor branch. The precharge circuits of the converters, which are connected to the secondary, are diverted from the inside of the modules to the primary winding of transformer. Since the multisecondary transformer powers up at the same time as converters, the capacitors in all converters will limit the ramp up rate of the transformer voltage, and the magnetic inrush current can be ignored. To analyze the characters of the precharge branches, all converters can be equaled as parallel during the soft-start process. The equivalent circuit, a series RLC circuit, is proposed in this paper. A 1.2-kV power supply, contains 12 converters, with soft start has been built up in laboratory. Simulation and experiment results are shown to verify the theoretical analysis. A new soft-start circuit of 100-kV HVPS system was designed.

Electron temperature difference between the o-point and x-point of a magnetic island

The electron temperature difference between the o-point and the x-point of a magnetic island is studied numerically by solving the two-dimensional energy transport equation. It is found that, even without a localized radio-frequency heating at the islands o-point, there is usually a temperature difference between these two points. This difference depends on the radial profile of the heating power deposition, the ratio between the parallel and the perpendicular heat conductivity and the island width, and it takes a minimum when the island width is about twice the local heat diffusion layer width. The effect of the temperature difference on the island growth is further studied, and the peaked heating power density profile at magnetic axis is found be destabilizing.

The operation region and MHD modes on the J-TEXT tokamak

The operation region and the parameter region of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) modes are analyzed for J-TEXT Ohmic discharges. The operation region is described by the Hugill diagram, which combines low-q and high density limits. It is found that the operation region has expanded over the years on J-TEXT. In detail, the high density limit has increased from less than 0.5n G to 0.7n G and the low-q limit has lowered from 2.8 to 2.2; this is due to the reduced impurity content that results from coating graphite on the wall. Furthermore, the operation region has further expanded to 0.85n G and q a ~ 2.0, respectively—a result of suppressing the disruptive precursor MHD by using externally-applied resonant magnetic perturbations (RMPs). Here, n G and q a are the Greenwald density limit and edge safety factor, respectively. Corresponding to the results of the operation region, the parameter regions of MHD modes are presented. It is found that a m/n = 2/1 tearing mode (TM) appears for a wide parameters region with 2.4 < q a < 4 and n e < 3 × 1019 m−3—here m and n are the poloidal and toroidal mode numbers. Furthermore, other MHD modes such as m/n = 5/2, 3/1, 4/1 and 7/2, appear only when their rational surfaces are close to the plasma edge or m/n ~ q a, and these MHD modes may transit to a 2/1 TM when changing the plasma parameters. In addition, correlation analysis between the amplitude and frequency of the dominant 2/1 TM for different plasma conditions reveals that there is a threshold between normal discharges and density-limit discharges, which would be a reference to predict density-limit disruptions.