Jae Sun Park

Control of core argon impurity profile by ECH in KSTAR L-mode plasmas

Experiments on trace argon impurity transport in L-mode discharges were performed on Korea superconducting tokamak advanced research (KSTAR) with electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECH). Ar emission was measured by soft x-ray (SXR) arrays and vacuum UV (VUV) diagnostics. A significant reduction in the core Ar emissivity was observed with core ECH. The reduction was the largest with on-axis heating and became smaller with outward heating positions. The diffusivity and convection velocity of Ar were obtained by analysis of the SXR data with the SANCO impurity transport code for the on-axis ECH and the non-ECH shots. In the on-axis ECH case, both diffusivity and convection velocity increased. Furthermore, the convection changed its direction from inward to outward in the plasma core (r/a < 0.3), resulting in a hollow profile of the total Ar density. Together with the reduction in the SXR signals, the hollow impurity profile in the core and the reversal of the convection velocity consistently confirm that ECH can reduce impurity accumulation in the core region. Neoclassical impurity transport and linear stability of micro-turbulence were calculated and discussed in relation to the possible transport mechanism.

Edge localized mode characteristics during edge localized mode mitigation by supersonic molecular beam injection in Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research

It has been reported that supersonic molecular beam injection (SMBI) is an effective means of edge localized mode (ELM) mitigation. This paper newly reports the changes in the ELM, plasma profiles, and fluctuation characteristics during ELM mitigation by SMBI in Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research. During the mitigated ELM phase, the ELM frequency increased by a factor of 2–3 and the ELM size, which was estimated from the Dα amplitude, the fractional changes in the plasma-stored energy and the line-averaged electron density, and divertor heat flux during an ELM burst, decreased by a factor of 0.34–0.43. Reductions in the electron and ion temperatures rather than in the electron density were observed during the mitigated ELM phase. In the natural ELM phase, frequency chirping of the plasma fluctuations was observed before the ELM bursts; however, the ELM bursts occurred without changes in the plasma fluctuation frequency in the mitigated ELM phase.

Development of a particle injection system for impurity transport study in KSTAR.

A solid particle injection system is developed for KSTAR. The system has a compact size, compatibility with a strong magnetic field and high vacuum environment, and the capability to inject a small amount of solid particles with a narrow injection angle. The target flight-distance of 10 cm has been achieved with a particle loss rate of less than 10%. Solid impurity particles such as tungsten and carbon will be injected by this system at the midplane in KSTAR. The impurity transport feature will be studied with a soft X-ray array, a vacuum ultra-violet diagnostic, and Stand Alone Non-Corona code.

Signal to noise ratio of upgraded imaging bolometer for KSTAR

An InfraRed imaging Video Bolometer (IRVB) was installed on KSTAR in 2012 having a ∼2 μm × 7 cm × 9 cm Pt foil blackened with graphite and a 5 mm × 5 mm aperture located 7.65 cm from the foil with 16 × 12 channels and a time resolution of 10 ms. The IR camera was an Indigo Phoenix (InSb, 320 × 256 pixels, 435 fps, <25 mK). In 2017, the IRVB was upgraded by replacing the IR camera with a FLIR SC7600 (InSb, 640 × 512 pixels, 105 fps, <25 mK). The aperture area was reduced by approximately half to 3.5 mm × 3.5 mm, and the number of channels was quadrupled to 32 × 24. A synthetic image derived using the projection matrix for the upgraded IRVB from a Scrape Off Layer Plasma Simulator (SOLPS) model with 146 kW of total radiated power had a maximum signal of 7.6 W/m2 and a signal to noise ratio (SNR) of 11. Experimental data for a plasma with parameters similar to the SOLPS model (total radiated power of 158 kW) had a maximum signal of 12.6 W/m2 and noise equivalent power density (SNR) of 0.9 W/m2 (14).

VUV spectroscopy in impurity injection experiments at KSTAR using prototype ITER VUV spectrometer

The ITER vacuum ultra-violet (VUV) core survey spectrometer has been designed as a 5-channel spectral system so that the high spectral resolving power of 200-500 could be achieved in the wavelength range of 2.4-160 nm. To verify the design of the ITER VUV core survey spectrometer, a two-channel prototype spectrometer was developed. As a subsequent step of the prototype test, the prototype VUV spectrometer has been operated at KSTAR since the 2012 experimental campaign. From impurity injection experiments in the years 2015 and 2016, strong emission lines, such as Kr xxv 15.8 nm, Kr xxvi 17.9 nm, Ne vii 46.5 nm, Ne vi 40.2 nm, and an array of largely unresolved tungsten lines (14-32 nm) could be measured successfully, showing the typical photon number of 1013-1015 photons/cm2 s.

Development of a neural network technique for KSTAR Thomson scattering diagnostics

Neural networks provide powerful approaches of dealing with nonlinear data and have been successfully applied to fusion plasma diagnostics and control systems. Controlling tokamak plasmas in real time is essential to measure the plasma parameters in situ. However, the χ2 method traditionally used in Thomson scattering diagnostics hampers real-time measurement due to the complexity of the calculations involved. In this study, we applied a neural network approach to Thomson scattering diagnostics in order to calculate the electron temperature, comparing the results to those obtained with the χ2 method. The best results were obtained for 103 training cycles and eight nodes in the hidden layer. Our neural network approach shows good agreement with the χ2 method and performs the calculation twenty times faster.