M. Brix

Recent progress toward high performance above the Greenwald density limit in impurity seeded discharges in limiter and divertor tokamaks

An overview is given of recent advances toward the realization of high density, high confinement plasmas with radiating mantles in limiter and divertor tokamaks worldwide. Radiatively improved mode discharges on the Torus Experiment for Technology Oriented Research 94 (TEXTOR-94) [Proceedings of the 16th IEEE Symposium on Fusion Engineering, 1995 (Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Piscataway, NJ, 1995), p. 470] have recently been obtained at trans-Greenwald densities (up to n/nGW=1.4) with high confinement mode free of edge localized modes (ELM-free H-mode) confinement quality. Experiments in DIII-D [J. Luxon et al., Proceedings of the 11th IAEA Conference on Plasma Physics and Controlled Nuclear Fusion Research (International Atomic Energy Association, Vienna, 1987), Vol. 1, p. 159] divertor plasmas with a low confinement mode edge have confirmed the dramatic changes in confinement observed with impurity seeding on TEXTOR-94. Recent experiment with impurity seeding on the Joint Europea...

Impurity-seeded plasma experiments on JET

Scaling to larger tokamaks of high confinement plasmas with radiating edges, induced by impurities, is being studied through internationally collaborative experiments on JET. In campaigns till the end of 2000, three different regimes have been explored. A small number of limiter L-mode discharges seeded with neon have most closely repeated the approach used on TEXTOR-94, but different collisionality and particle transport in JET impede central peaking of the density associated with improved confinement. Divertor L-modes at intermediate density, again with neon injection, have pursued transiently enhanced states found on DIII-D. Confinement up to H-mode quality, together with radiation fractions of ?40%, have briefly been obtained, though central Zeff quickly increases. Most effectively, neon and argon seeding of higher density ELMy H-modes formed mainly at low triangularity on the septum of the MkIIGB divertor, resembling a pumped-limiter arrangement, have been examined. Good confinement has been sustained at densities close to the Greenwald level in `afterpuff (AP) phases following the end of main gas fuelling, for little change of central Zeff but up to ?60% radiation. Outstanding normalized properties up to H97 = 0.99 at fGwd = 0.94 have thus been achieved, above the conventional H-mode density limit for diverted plasmas. Stationarity of states has also been extended to many energy confinement times by including low, extra gas inputs in the `AP, suggestive of an optimized fuelling scheme. Further development in 2001 is reported separately in [1]. Accompanying ELMs are generally reduced in frequency though not evidently in size, electron pedestal pressure being almost unchanged from unseeded behaviour. There are indications of the most favourable impurity species scaling with plasma parameters, performance, radiation and its concentration within a mantle all increasing with argon compared to neon in JET. These benefits in terms of integrated properties are just as required for long burning pulses in ITER, supporting its use of a radiating mantle to assist not only power exhaust but performance too. Impurity-seeded H-modes can therefore contribute directly to next-step scenario development.

Observation of Confined Current Ribbon in JET Plasmas

We report the identification of a localized current structure inside the JET plasma. It is a field-aligned closed helical ribbon, carrying current in the same direction as the background current profile (cocurrent), rotating toroidally with the ion velocity (corotating). It appears to be located at a flat spot in the plasma pressure profile, at the top of the pedestal. The structure appears spontaneously in low density, high rotation plasmas, and can last up to 1.4 s, a time comparable to a local resistive time. It considerably delays the appearance of the first edge localized mode.

Optimization of ICRH for core impurity control in JET-ILW

Ion cyclotron resonance frequency (ICRF) heating has been an essential component in the development of high power H-mode scenarios in the Jet European Torus ITER-like wall (JET-ILW). The ICRF performance was improved by enhancing the antenna-plasma coupling with dedicated main chamber gas injection, including the preliminary minimization of RF-induced plasma-wall interactions, while the RF heating scenarios where optimized for core impurity screening in terms of the ion cyclotron resonance position and the minority hydrogen concentration. The impact of ICRF heating on core impurity content in a variety of 2.5 MA JET-ILW H-mode plasmas will be presented, and the steps that were taken for optimizing ICRF heating in these experiments will be reviewed.

Core transport properties in JT-60U and JET identity plasmas

The paper compares the transport properties of a set of dimensionless identity experiments performed between JET and JT-60U in the advanced tokamak regime with internal transport barrier, ITB. These International Tokamak Physics Activity, ITPA, joint experiments were carried out with the same plasma shape, toroidal magnetic field ripple and dimensionless profiles as close as possible during the ITB triggering phase in terms of safety factor, normalized Larmor radius, normalized collision frequency, thermal beta, ratio of ion to electron temperatures. Similarities in the ITB triggering mechanisms and sustainment were observed when a good match was achieved of the most relevant normalized profiles except the toroidal Mach number. Similar thermal ion transport levels in the two devices have been measured in either monotonic or non-monotonic q-profiles. In contrast, differences between JET and JT-60U were observed on the electron thermal and particle confinement in reversed magnetic shear configurations. It was found that the larger shear reversal in the very centre (inside normalized radius of 0.2) of JT-60U plasmas allowed the sustainment of stronger electron density ITBs compared with JET. As a consequence of peaked density profile, the core bootstrap current density is more than five times higher in JT-60U compared with JET. Thanks to the bootstrap effect and the slightly broader neutral beam deposition, reversed magnetic shear configurations are self-sustained in JT-60U scenarios. Analyses of similarities and differences between the two devices address key questions on the validity of the usual assumptions made in ITER steady scenario modelling, e. g. a flat density profile in the core with thermal transport barrier? Such assumptions have consequences on the prediction of fusion performance, bootstrap current and on the sustainment of the scenario.