K. Rantamäki

Long distance coupling of lower hybrid waves in JET plasmas with edge and core transport barriers

Efficient coupling of lower hybrid (LH) waves in conditions close to those foreseen in ITER has been obtained in advanced scenario plasmas in the JET tokamak. Up to 3u2009MW of lower hybrid current drive (LHCD) power has been coupled at a distance between the separatrix and the launcher of 11u2009cm, in the presence of edge localized mode activity. The key to the improved LH wave coupling is local control of the Scrape-Off-Layer (SOL) density through gas injection in the region magnetically connected to the launcher. This increases the electron density in front of the launcher so as to improve the coupling of the LH waves, i.e. reduce the reflected power in the launcher. The average power reflection coefficient was 5.7% with gas injection, at 11u2009cm distance between the separatrix and the launcher. A change in the gas injection design has made the gas puffing more efficient, making the use of D2 injection possible as an alternative to CD4. At similar injected electrons/s rates, D2 gives higher electron density in the SOL than CD4, resulting in better LH coupling with D2. The possibility of using D2 instead of the earlier used CD4 is an encouraging result in view of ITER operation, as CD4 may not be compatible in ITER due to the problem of tritium retention in deposited carbon layers.

Effect of gas injection during LH wave coupling at ITER-relevant plasma-wall distances in JET

Good coupling of lower hybrid (LH) waves has been demonstrated in different H-mode scenarios in JET, at high triangularity (δ ~ 0.4) and at large distance between the last closed flux surface and the LH launcher (up to 15u2009cm). Local gas injection of D2 in the region magnetically connected to the LH launcher is used for increasing the local density in the scrape-off layer (SOL). Reciprocating Langmuir probe measurements magnetically connected to the LH launcher indicate that the electron density profile flattens in the far SOL during gas injection and LH power application. Some degradation in normalized H-mode confinement, as given by the H98(y,2)-factor, could be observed at high gas injection rates in these scenarios, but this was rather due to total gas injection and not specifically to the local gas puffing used for LH coupling. Furthermore, experiments carried out in L-mode plasmas in order to evaluate the effect on the LH current drive efficiency, when using local gas injection to improve the coupling, indicate only a small degradation (ΔILH/ILH ~ 15%). This effect is largely compensated by the improvement in coupling and thus increase in coupled power when using gas puffing.

Toroidal and poloidal momentum transport studies in JET

This paper reports on the recent studies of toroidal and poloidal momentum transport in JET. The ratio of the global energy confinement time to the momentum confinement is found to be close to τE/τφ=1 except for the low density discharges where the ratio is τE/τφ=2-3. On the other hand, local transport analysis of tens of discharges shows that the ratio of the local effective momentum diffusivity to the ion heat diffusivity is χφ/χi�0.1-0.4 rather than unity, as expected from the global confinement times and used in ITER predictions. The apparent discrepancy in the global and local momentum versus ion heat transport is explained by the fact that momentum confinement within edge pedestal is worse than that of the ion heat and thus, momentum pedes- tal is weaker than that of ion temperature. Another observation is that while the Ti has a threshold in R/LTi and profiles are stiff, the gradient in vφ increases with increasing torque and no threshold is found. Predictive trans- port simulations also confirm that χφ/χi�0.1-0.4 reproduce the core toroidal velocity profiles well. Concerning poloidal velocities on JET, the experimental measurements show that the carbon poloidal velocity can be an or- der of magnitude above the neo-classical estimate within the ITB. This significantly affects the calculated radial electric field and therefore, the E◊B flow shear used for example in transport simulations. The Weiland model reproduces the onset, location and strength of the ITB well when the experimental poloidal rotation is used while it does not predict an ITB using the neo-classical poloidal velocity. The most plausible explanation for the gen- eration of the anomalous poloidal velocity is the turbulence driven flow through the Reynolds stress. Both TRB and CUTIE turbulence codes show the existence of an anomalous poloidal velocity, being significantly larger than the neo-classical values. And similarly to experiments, the poloidal velocity profiles peak in the vicinity of the ITB and is caused by flow due to the Reynolds stress.

Progress in LHCD : a tool for advanced regimes on ITER

The recent success in coupling lower hybrid (LH) waves in high performance plasmas at JET together with the first demonstration on FTU of the coupling capability of the new passive active multijunction launcher removed major concerns on the possibility of using LH on ITER. LH exhibits the highest experimental current drive (CD) efficiency at low plasma temperature thus making it the natural candidate for off-axis CD on ITER where current profile control will help in maintaining burning performance on a long-time scale. We review recent LH results: long internal transport barrier obtained in JET with current profile sustained and controlled by LH acting under real time feedback together with first LH control of flat q-profile in a hybrid regime with T e ∼ T i . Minutes long fully non-inductive LH driven discharges on Tore Supra (TS). High CD efficiency with electron cyclotron in synergy with LH obtained in FTU and TS opening the possibility of interesting scenarii on ITER for MHD stabilization. Preliminary results of LH modelling for ITER are also reported. A brief overview of ITER LH system is reported together with some indication of new coming LH experiments, in particular KSTAR where CW klystrons at the foreseen ITER frequency of 5 GHz are being developed.

Bright spots generated by lower hybrid waves on JET

Observations of bright spots on the JET divertor aprons during lower hybrid current drive experiments are described. These bright spots are important because they can potentially cause damage to large tokamaks. The bright spots arise due to the impact of a fast particle beam. This beam originates from the front of the lower hybrid launcher, where thermal particles are accelerated according to theory by interaction with the high spatial harmonics of the lower hybrid wave. The bright spots are clearly related to the lower hybrid power as they disappear when the lower hybrid power is switched off. According to the analysis versus various parameters, the brightness of the spots clearly decreases with increasing plasma–wall distance, i.e. the distance between the last closed flux surface and the poloidal limiter. This is clearly beneficial for ITER, as it is designed to operate at a large plasma–wall distance.

Predictive simulations of toroidal momentum transport at JET

A new version of the Weiland model has been used in predictive JETTO simulations of toroidal rotation. The model includes a self-consistent calculation of the toroidal momentum diffusivity (χ) which contains both diagonal and non-diagonal (pinch) contributions to the momentum flux. Predictive transport simulations of JET H-mode, L-mode and hybrid discharges are presented.It is shown that experimental temperatures and toroidal velocity were well reproduced by the simulations. The model predicts the ion heat diffusivity (χi) to be larger than the momentum diffusivity and it gives Prandtl numbers (Pr = χ/χi) between 0.1 and 1. The Prandtl numbers are often, depending on the plasma conditions, predicted to be significantly smaller than unity. This is in accordance with experimental findings.

Effects of ICRF induced density modifications on LH wave coupling at JET

Lower hybrid (LH) wave coupling is modified and usually degraded when the system is powered simultaneously with the ion cyclotron range of frequency (ICRF) antennas magnetically connected to the launcher. This has been attributed to scrape-off layer density modifications by the RF sheaths. LH reflection coefficients dependences on various parameters are investigated and shown to be consistent with RF sheath physics. Gas puffing near the launcher has been used to improve the coupling of LH waves.

SOL characterization and LH coupling measurements on JET in ITER-relevant conditions

Lower hybrid (LH) current drive experiments have been carried out on JET with an antenna–plasma separatrix distance varying between 0.09 and 0.15 m, and LH power in the range 0–3.2 MW. For different plasma configurations, the electron density ne of the scrape-off layer has been studied by the mean of a reciprocating Langmuir probe magnetically connected to the LH antenna. For pulses in the high confinement regime (H mode) characterized by strong particle bursts in the plasma edge, the edge localized modes (ELMs), profiles of the saturation current (Jsat) are obtained with a sufficient time resolution to distinguish between ELMs and during the rise and decay of the ELMs.It is found that gas injection from a valve located near the LH launcher and magnetically connected to it allows one to raise the density and improve the LH coupling. The Jsat profiles indicate quite clearly that this density rise affects mainly the plasma layer in front of the antenna with a typical thickness of 5 cm. The resulting profile can be extremely flat in this region. The effect of the near-launcher gas injection but also of the LH power and the total gas injection on the density at the wall is quantitatively documented. It is shown in particular that with increasing LH power, the required gas injection for obtaining good LH coupling is decreasing, with no saturation obtained so far. Effect of the ELMs on the LH coupling is also discussed. Modelling with the EDGE2D code indicates that such flat profiles of Jsat/ne can be obtained when LH power dissipation is taken into account. Detailed analysis of the heat flux carried by electrons accelerated in the near-field of the antenna confirms the increase in density with gas puff during high LH power coupling.

Estimation of heat loads on the wall structures in parasitic absorption of lower hybrid power

Parasitic absorption of the short wavelength modes of the LH spectrum is a probable reason for the hot spots seen in the grill region of several tokamaks. Experiments suggest that the heat loads on the wall structures depend on the coupled power. In this work, the parasitic absorption of LH power was studied with self-consistent particle-in-cell simulations. The launched spectra were obtained from the SWAN coupling code. The power and temperature dependences of the absorption in the near field of the LH grill were investigated with a series of simulations. The parasitic absorption was found to grow from 0.6 to 1.1% when the coupled power increased from 26 to 67 MW/m2. When the edge temperature rose from 12.5 to 100 eV, the absorption increased from 0.4 to 1.7%. The maximum kinetic energies were between 0.6 and 1.8 keV. Estimates for the heat loads and surface temperature of the grill limiter are also obtained. The absorption leads to heat loads between 1.5 and 13 MW/m2 and surface temperatures of 510-2390° C.

ITER LHCD Plans and Design

LH waves experimentally exhibit the highest current drive efficiency at low plasma temperature, therefore they are the most suitable candidates for controlling the current profile in the off axis part of ITER steady state plasmas. For this purpose, a 5 GHz, 20 MW CW LH system has been designed, that relies on a generator made of 24 klystrons, 1 MW each, 60 metres long circular oversized transmission lines, and one antenna, based on the Passive Active Multijunction (PAM) concept. High reliability of the launcher is achieved, by limiting the power density to 33 MW/m2. Together with the overall system description, the present results achieved toward ITER are presented. The different ongoing projects are listed. The outstanding problems are depicted