N. Vianello

Experimental Validation of a Filament Transport Model in Turbulent Magnetized Plasmas

In a wide variety of natural and laboratory magnetized plasmas, filaments appear as a result of interchange instability. These convective structures substantially enhance transport in the direction perpendicular to the magnetic field. According to filament models, their propagation may follow different regimes depending on the parallel closure of charge conservation. This is of paramount importance in magnetic fusion plasmas, as high collisionality in the scrape-off layer may trigger a regime transition leading to strongly enhanced perpendicular particle fluxes. This work reports for the first time on an experimental verification of this process, linking enhanced transport with a regime transition as predicted by models. Based on these results, a novel scaling for global perpendicular particle transport in reactor relevant tokamaks such as ASDEX-Upgrade and JET is found, leading to important implications for next generation fusion devices.

Electrostatic transport reduction induced by flow shear modification in a reversed field pinch plasma

The E × B velocity and its shear have been modified in the edge of the RFX reversed field pinch experiment by a biasing experiment performed with electrodes inserted into the plasma. Causality between an increase in the E × B velocity shear and a decrease of the particle flux driven by electrostatic turbulence has been observed. The decrease of the particle flux has been found to be mainly due to a change of the relative phase between density and plasma potential fluctuations. The results confirm the role of sheared flow in transport suppression in reversed field pinches and show remarkable similarities with those found in other magnetic configurations.

3D effects on the RFX-mod boundary

In present fusion research a strong effort is devoted to the studies of non-axisymmetric magnetic perturbations and consequent field ergodization on the external region of the plasma. On this topic interesting results can be drawn from the helical configuration observed in high-current regimes in reversed field pinches (RFPs) where the small edge helical ripple is sufficient to modulate the plasma?wall interaction and the plasma kinetic properties. This paper presents the most recent experimental results and physical interpretation of the phenomena observed in the edge region of the RFX-mod RFP device. Experimental observations indicate that plasma pressure and floating potential are spatially modulated according to the helical deformation. Helical flow is observed at the edge as a consequence of an ambipolar electric field. Emphasis will be devoted to the determination of the actual phase relation between magnetic perturbation and velocity perturbation. Evidence of the influence of the helical ripple on turbulence properties at the edge is also reported.

Transport mechanisms in the outer region of RFX-mod

Transport properties of the edge region of RFPs are characterized by complicated mechanisms further entangled by the complex magnetic topology. Recently on RFX-mod (Sonato 2003 Fusion Eng. Des. 66–68 161) the use of an efficient feedback system for MHD control allowed the achievement of an unprecedented plasma current for an RFP, of up to 1.6 MA, with an improvement in the confinement properties. This is accompanied by an amelioration of the magnetic boundary and the observation of different MHD regimes, moving from low current multiple helical regime, to high current quasi-single helical ones. At a low plasma current (Ip ≈ 300–400 kA) in multiple helicity discharge the plasma parameter profiles at the edge are strongly influenced by the presence of m = 0 islands which flatten the temperature profile and modify substantially both the electric drift flow and the E × B shear. The particle diffusion coefficient and the thermal conductivity χe in this regime are 10–20 m2 s−1 and 100–200 m2 s−1, respectively. Both temperature and pressure characteristic scale lengths are found to scale favourably with the decrease in the secondary modes achieved through the increase in the plasma current. The same trend is observed for the thermal conductivity, and the recently discovered single helical axis states (Lorenzini et al 2008 Phys. Rev. Lett. 101 025005) exhibit an edge χe reduced by a factor of up to 40%. Finally the perpendicular flow at the edge is found to scale with the density normalized to the Greenwald density with a saturation at values around n/nG ≈ 0.35.

RFX-mod: A multi-configuration fusion facility for three-dimensional physics studiesa)

RFX-mod [Sonato et al., Fusion Eng. Des. 66, 161 (2003)] exploits its 192 active coils in both reversed-field pinch (RFP) and tokamak configurations with varying degrees of 3D shaping, providing also a test bed for validating stellarator codes and 3D nonlinear magnetohydrodynamic codes. This makes RFX-mod a unique and flexible facility for comparative studies on 3D shaping and control. The paper discusses how 3D fields allow access to RFP and tokamak advanced regimes. 3D fields are used to feedback control Single Helicity (SH) RFP equilibria with 1/7 helicity up to ∼2 MA. They also allow accessing SH regimes with higher density (Greenwald fraction up to 0.5), presently inaccessible in spontaneous SH regimes. Feedback on the 2/1 resistive-wall mode in RFX-mod tokamak plasmas allows for safe operation at q(a)<2, an almost unexplored promising regime. Forcing the 2/1 mode to saturate at finite but small level, a helical tokamak equilibrium with significant n = 1 modulation is produced and a new way to tailor...

Parallel and perpendicular structure of the edge turbulence in a three-dimensional magnetic field

Edge turbulence and blobs are studied in the three-dimensional magnetic topology of the RFX-mod reversed field pinch. The edge of the RFX-mod shows a three-dimensional structure dominated by a helical equilibrium with (1, −7) symmetry, which gives the same space-time modulation to all of the kinetic properties. The interaction between the edge turbulence and this magnetic topology is studied. It is shown that the edge blobs are current-carrying filaments aligned with the magnetic field, and in the perpendicular plane each blob is a positive peak of electron density and a valley of temperature. The inner nature of these blobs is not affected by the presence of the O and X points of the (1, −7) island; however, the statistical properties are sensitive to them, pointing to the influence of the magnetic topology on the edge fluctuations.

Electrostatic properties and active magnetic topology modification in the RFX-mod edge plasma

A better understanding of the edge phenomena regulating plasma transport and turbulence is of primary importance for the whole fusion community. In particular, in reversed field pinches (RFPs) the edge properties are found to have a strong relation with the magnetic topology. The flexibility of the RFX-mod RFP experiment (Sonato et al 2003 Fusion Eng. Des. 66–68 161–8) enables exploring different topological regimes, and the insertion of a probe equipped with a two-dimensional array of electrostatic sensors allows the characterization of the outermost plasma regions (up to 10% of the minor radius). The electric field radial profiles and its dynamics are found to be highly influenced by the presence of edge magnetic islands modelled with a Field Line Tracing code (FLiT). When a helical perturbation is applied through the saddle coil feedback system a strong modification of the edge electrostatic properties is observed. The E × B velocity field results in a convective cell-like structure according to the externally imposed toroidal periodicity. Finally, an analysis of the long-range correlations in the floating potential fluctuations (measured by two toroidally separated probes) is presented and discussed along with the electric field measurements and the edge topology.

Magnetic perturbations as a viable tool for edge turbulence modification

A complete description of the effects of magnetic perturbation on the edge region of RFX-mod is here reported. The flexibility of the RFX-mod device [1] allows for the operation of the machine both as a reversed field pinch (RFP, with maximum current 2?MA) and as a low-current, circular ohmic tokamak (Ip,max?=?0.15?MA). The present paper summarizes the most recent results obtained in both configurations with either spontaneous or induced edge radial magnetic perturbation. Emphasis will be devoted to the experimental characterization of the edge flow, focusing on the phase relation between flow and perturbed magnetic field. These informations are provided for natural and stimulated helical discharges in RFPs, and for tokamak safely operated, thanks to the unique RFX-mod MHD control system, in a wide range of edge safety factor 1.9???q(a)???3.4 with externally imposed helical boundary. For the first time a detailed comparison between this phenomenology in tokamaks and RFPs will be presented, providing experimental measurement of the streamline of E?? B flow around the magnetic perturbation and of the density modulation which exhibits the same periodicity of the perturbation. Strong new indication of the modification of the small scale turbulence in presence of magnetic perturbation is reported: this modification is deeply connected to the variation of turbulence induced particle transport.

Electromagnetic turbulent structures: A ubiquitous feature of the edge region of toroidal plasma configurations

Electromagnetic features of turbulent filaments, emerging from a turbulent plasma background, have been studied in four different magnetic configurations: the stellarator TJ-II, the Reversed Field Pinch RFX-mod, a device that can be operated also as a ohmic tokamak, and the Simple Magnetized Torus, TORPEX. By applying an analogous diagnostic concept in all cases, direct measurements of both field-aligned current density and vorticity were performed inside the filament. The inter-machine comparison reveals a clear dependence of the filament vorticity upon the local time-averaged E × B flow shear. Furthermore, a wide range of local beta was explored allowing concluding that this parameter plays a fundamental role in the appearance of filament electromagnetic features.

Particle balance during edge biasing experiments in the reversed field pinch RFX

The results of an edge biasing experiment in RFX are reported. The particle balance has been interpreted by a zero-dimensional model which allows the particle confinement time to be adjusted in order to reproduce the experimental behaviour of the plasma density. It is found that, despite the substantial reduction of the electrostatic transport by a factor of three, the particle confinement time does not increase by more than 35%. This behaviour has been interpreted as an indication that another loss channel must be considered which is responsible for a particle flux twice as large as that carried by electrostatic fluctuations and it has been identified in the perturbation due to the locked mode.