M. de Baar

Characterization of pedestal parameters and edge localized mode energy losses in the Joint European Torus and predictions for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor

This paper presents the experimental characterization of pedestal parameters, edge localized mode (ELM) energy, and particle losses from the main plasma and the corresponding ELM energy fluxes on plasma facing components for a series of dedicated experiments in the Joint European Torus (JET). From these experiments, it is demonstrated that the simple hypothesis relating the peeling-ballooning linear instability to ELM energy losses is not valid. Contrary to previous observations at lower triangularities, small energy losses at low collisionality have been obtained in regimes at high plasma triangularity and q95∼4.5, indicating that the edge plasma magnetohydrodynamic stability is linked with the transport mechanisms that lead to the loss of energy by conduction during type I ELMs. Measurements of the ELM energy fluxes on the divertor target show that their time scale is linked to the ion transport along the field and the formation of a high energy sheath, in agreement with kinetic modeling of ELMs. Higher...

A model-based technique for integrated real-time profile control in the JET tokamak

This paper describes a new technique which has been implemented on the JET tokamak to investigate integrated real-time control of several plasma profiles simultaneously (such as current, temperature and pressure) and reports the results of the first experimental tests. The profiles are handled through their projection on a suitable basis of functions according to the Galerkin scheme. Their response to three actuators (heating and current drive powers injected in the plasma) is linearized in an experimentally deduced multi-input multi-output model. The singular value decomposition of this model operator allows us to design a distributed-parameter real-time controller which maximizes the steady state decoupling of the multiple feedback loops. It enables us to control several coupled profiles simultaneously, with some degree of fuzziness to let the plasma evolve towards an accessible non-linear state which is the closest to the requested one, despite a limited number of actuators.The first experiments using these techniques show that different current and electron temperature profiles can be obtained and sustained by the controller during a closed-loop operation time window. Future improvements and perspectives are briefly mentioned.

Behaviour of disruption generated runaways in JET

Experiments have established the regions of parameter space in JET that lead to runaway generation in disruptions. Previous measurements on the structure of the runaway beam have been confirmed. The delay in runaway generation following temperature collapse is found to be caused by the very high density generated by the disruption. It is shown that runaway generation in JET can be best modelled and understood by including avalanche processes.

Tearing mode stabilization by electron cyclotron resonance heating demonstrated in the TEXTOR tokamak and the implication for ITER

Controlled experiments on the suppression of the m/n = 2/1 tearing mode with electron cyclotron heating and current drive in TEXTOR are reported. The mode was produced reproducibly by an externally applied rotating perturbation field, allowing a systematic study of its suppression. Heating inside the island of the mode is shown to be the dominant suppression mechanism in these experiments. An extrapolation of these findings to ITER indicates that the projected system for suppression of the tearing mode could be significantly more effective than present estimates indicate, which only consider the effect of the current drive but not of the heating inside the island.

A line-of-sight electron cyclotron emission receiver for electron cyclotron resonance heating feedback control of tearing modes

An electron cyclotron emission (ECE) receiver inside the electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) transmission line has been brought into operation. The ECE is extracted by placing a quartz plate acting as a Fabry-Perot interferometer under an angle inside the electron cyclotron wave (ECW) beam. ECE measurements are obtained during high power ECRH operation. This demonstrates the successful operation of the diagnostic and, in particular, a sufficient suppression of the gyrotron component preventing it from interfering with ECE measurements. When integrated into a feedback system for the control of plasma instabilities this line-of-sight ECE diagnostic removes the need to localize the instabilities in absolute coordinates.

Progress towards steady-state operation and real-time control of internal transport barriers in JET

In JET, advanced tokamak research mainly focuses on plasmas with internal transport barriers (ITBs) that are strongly influenced by the current density profile. A previously developed optimized shear regime with low magnetic shear in the plasma centre has been extended to deeply negative magnetic shear configurations. High fusion performance with wide ITBs has been obtained transiently with negative central magnetic shear configuration: HIPB98(y,2) ~ 1.9, βN = 2.4 at Ip = 2.5 MA. At somewhat reduced performance, electron and ion ITBs have been sustained in full current drive operation with 1 MA of bootstrap current: HIPB98(y,2) ~ 1, βN = 1.7 at Ip = 2.0 MA. The ITBs were maintained for up to 11 s for the latter case. This duration, much larger than the energy confinement time (37 times larger), is already approaching a current resistive time. New real-time measurements and feedback control algorithms have been developed and implemented in JET for successfully controlling the ITB dynamics and the current density profile in the highly non-inductive current regime.

Real-time control of tearing modes using a line-of-sight electron cyclotron emission diagnostic

The stability and performance of tokamak plasmas are limited by instabilities such as neoclassical tearing modes. This paper reports on an experimental proof of principle of a feedback control approach for real-time, autonomous suppression and stabilization of tearing modes in a tokamak. The system combines an electron cyclotron emission diagnostic for sensing of the tearing modes in the same sight line with a steerable electron cyclotron resonance heating and current drive (ECRH/ECCD) antenna. A methodology for fast detection of q = m/n = 2/1 tearing modes and retrieval of their location, rotation frequency and phase is presented. Set-points to establish alignment of the ECRH/ECCD deposition location with the centre of the tearing mode are generated in real time and forwarded in closed loop to the steerable launcher and as a modulation pulse train to the gyrotron. Experimental results demonstrate the capability of the control system to track externally perturbed tearing modes in real time.

Integrated scenario in JET using real-time profile control

The recent development of real-time measurements and control tools in JET has enhanced the reliability and reproducibility of the relevant ITER scenarios. Diagnostics such as charge exchange, interfero-polarimetry, electron cyclotron emission have been upgraded for real-time measurements. In addition, real-time processes like magnetic equilibrium and q profile reconstruction have been developed and applied successfully in real-time q profile control experiments using model based control techniques. Plasma operation and control against magnetohydrodynamic instabilities are also benefiting from these new systems. The experience gained at JET in the field of real-time measurement and control experiments operation constitutes a very useful basis for the future operation of ITER scenarios.

The beta scaling of energy confinement in ELMy H-modes in JET

The disagreement between the weak dependence of the energy confinement time on normalized pressure, β, observed in dedicated scans and the strongly negative dependence in the confinement scaling laws used for the design of next step tokamaks and future reactors, remains an outstanding problem. As such, scans of β have been undertaken in single null, low triangularity (δ ≈ 0.2) ELMy H-mode plasmas in JET with the MarkIIGB-SRP divertor. The scans varied β by a factor of 2.8 (normalized β from 0.72 to 2.04) and covered a range of magnetic fields (1.5–2.3 T), plasma currents (1.5–2.75 MA) and safety factors (q95 = 2.8 and 3.3). A weak β dependence was observed both globally (B0τE varied less than 9% across any one scan) and locally. A scan within Type I ELMy H-modes suggests that this weaker dependence is not due to ELM regimes. A statistical analysis indicates that these results are consistent with log–linear regressions performed on a wide JET database of ELMy H-modes, if correlations in this database are considered.

Progress in internal transport barrier plasmas with lower hybrid current drive and heating in JET (Joint European Torus)

In optimized shear plasmas in the Joint European Torus [P. H. Rebut and B. E. Keen, Fusion Technol. 11, 13 (1987)], safety factor (q) profiles with negative magnetic shear are produced by applying lower hybrid (LH) waves during the plasma current ramp-up phase. These plasmas produce a barrier to the electron energy transport. The radius at which the barrier is located increases with the LH wave power. When heated with high power from ion cyclotron resonance heating and neutral beam injection, they can additionally produce transient internal transport barriers (ITBs) seen on the ion temperature, electron density, and toroidal rotation velocity profiles. Due to recent improvements in coupling, q profile control with LH current drive in ITB plasmas with strong combined heating can be explored. These new experiments have led to ITBs sustained for several seconds by the LH wave. Simulations show that the current driven by the LH waves peaks at the ITB location, indicating that it can act in the region of low m...