V. Bobkov

Non-boronized compared with boronized operation of ASDEX Upgrade with full-tungsten plasma facing components

After completion of the tungsten coating of all plasma facing components, ASDEX Upgrade has been operated without boronization for 1 1/2 experimental campaigns. This has allowed the study of fuel retention under conditions of relatively low D co-deposition with low-Z impurities as well as the operational space of a full-tungsten device for the unfavourable condition of a relatively high intrinsic impurity level. Restrictions in operation were caused by the central accumulation of tungsten in combination with density peaking, resulting in H?L backtransitions induced by too low separatrix power flux. Most important control parameters have been found to be the central heating power, as delivered predominantly by ECRH, and the ELM frequency, most easily controlled by gas puffing. Generally, ELMs exhibit a positive impact, with the effect of impurity flushing out of the pedestal region overbalancing the ELM-induced W source. The restrictions of plasma operation in the unboronized W machine occurred predominantly under low or medium power conditions. Under medium-high power conditions, stable operation with virtually no difference between boronized and unboronized discharges was achieved. Due to the reduced intrinsic radiation with boronization and the limited power handling capability of VPS coated divertor tiles (?10?MW?m?2), boronized operation at high heating powers was possible only with radiative cooling. To enable this, a previously developed feedback system using (thermo-)electric current measurements as approximate sensor for the divertor power flux was introduced into the standard AUG operation. To avoid the problems with reduced ELM frequency due to core plasma radiation, nitrogen was selected as radiating species since its radiative characteristic peaks at lower electron temperatures in comparison with Ne and Ar, favouring SOL and divertor radiative losses. Nitrogen seeding resulted not only in the desired divertor power load reduction but also in improved energy confinement, as well as in smaller ELMs.

Ten years of W programme in ASDEX Upgrade - Challenges and Conclusions

Since 1999 ASDEX Upgrade increased its tungsten plasma-facing components (PFCs) and finally reached a full W coverage in 2007. Most of the initial goals of the investigations were successfully achieved. A highlight of the investigations was multiple start-ups and operation without any boronization demonstrating that performance and confinement similar to boronized operation with carbon PFCs can be reached in high power, high density discharges. This also allowed the investigation of the hydrogen retention without disturbing effects from the low-Z coating. A strong reduction of hydrogen retention was found in gas balance measurements as well as in post-mortem analyses. On the other hand, an almost complete suppression of low-Z divertor radiation was achieved after boronization, providing valuable information on the control requirements of radiative cooling by artificially introduced impurities. Among the challenges remains the strong increase of the W source and W concentration resulting from ICRH. At the same time it helped to identify the underlying physics and may lead to solutions superior to the presently used ones.

Heat loads on JET plasma facing components from ICRF and LH wave absorption in the SOL

In JET, lower hybrid (LH) and ion cyclotron resonance frequency (ICRF) wave absorption in the scrape-off layer can lead to enhanced heat fluxes on some plasma facing components (PFCs). Experiments have been carried out to characterize these heat loads in order to: (i) prepare JET operation with the Be wall which has a reduced power handling capability as compared with the carbon wall and (ii) better understand the physics driving these wave absorption phenomena and propose solutions for next generation systems to reduce them. When using ICRF, hot spots are observed on the antenna structures and on limiters close to the powered antennas and are explained by acceleration of ions in RF-rectified sheath potentials. High temperatures up to 800??C can be reached on locations where a deposit has built up on tile surfaces. Modelling which takes into account the fast thermal response of surface layers can reproduce well the surface temperature measurements via infrared (IR) imaging, and allow evaluation of the heat fluxes local to active ICRF antennas. The flux scales linearly with the density at the antenna radius and with the antenna voltage. Strap phasing corresponding to wave spectra with lower k? values can lead to a significant increase in hot spot intensity in agreement with antenna modelling that predicts, in that case, an increase in RF sheath rectification. LH absorption in front of the antenna through electron Landau damping of the wave with high N? components generates hot spots precisely located on PFCs magnetically connected to the launcher. Analysis of the LH hot spot surface temperature from IR measurements allows a quantification of the power flux along the field lines: in the worst case scenario it is in the range 15?30?MW?m?2. The main driving parameter is the LH power density along the horizontal rows of the launcher, the heat fluxes scaling roughly with the square of the LH power density. The local electron density in front of the grill increases with the LH launched power; this also enhances the intensity of the LH hot spots.

ICRF operation with improved antennas in ASDEX Upgrade with W wall

Experiments with boron-coated side limiters of two antennas operated together in 2012 showed that the side limiters are responsible for more than half of the increased W content in the plasma. Together with the contribution from the other limiter tiles, not replaced in 2012, the limiters account for at least two thirds of the W content. A modified test two-strap ion cyclotron range of frequency (ICRF) antennas in ASDEX Upgrade with broad limiters and narrow straps has shown an improved operation with full W wall in 2011/2012 campaigns with up to a 40% lower rise of W concentration allowing more stable operation at low deuterium gas injection rate. Limiter spectroscopy measurements indicate up to a 40% reduction of the rise of the W sputtering yield during ICRF power, measured under the assumption of negligible influence of geometry variations and reflections on the measurements. The boron limiters on two antennas together with the improved broad-limiter antenna allowed a successful ICRF operation in 2012. As a part of long-term strategy of antenna design development, two three-strap antennas with phase and power balance control for reduction of E|| are planned for installation in the future.

First operation with the JET International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor-like wall

To consolidate International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) design choices and prepare for its operation, Joint European Torus (JET) has implemented ITERs plasma facing materials, namely, Be for the main wall and W in the divertor. In addition, protection systems, diagnostics, and the vertical stability control were upgraded and the heating capability of the neutral beams was increased to over 30 MW. First results confirm the expected benefits and the limitations of all metal plasma facing components (PFCs) but also yield understanding of operational issues directly relating to ITER. H-retention is lower by at least a factor of 10 in all operational scenarios compared to that with C PFCs. The lower C content (≈ factor 10) has led to much lower radiation during the plasma burn-through phase eliminating breakdown failures. Similarly, the intrinsic radiation observed during disruptions is very low, leading to high power loads and to a slow current quench. Massive gas injection using a D2/Ar mixtu...

Fast-ion transport induced by Alfvén eigenmodes in the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak

A comprehensive suite of diagnostics has allowed detailed measurements of the Alfven eigenmode (AE) spatial structure and subsequent fast-ion transport in the ASDEX Upgrade (AUG) tokamak [1]. Reversed shear Alfven eigenmodes (RSAEs) and toroidal induced Alfven eigenmodes (TAEs) have been driven unstable by fast ions from ICRH as well as NBI origin. In ICRF heated plasmas, diffusive and convective fast-ion losses induced by AEs have been characterized in fast-ion phase space. While single RSAEs and TAEs eject resonant fast ions in a convective process directly proportional to the fluctuation amplitude, δB/B, the overlapping of multiple RSAE and TAE spatial structures and wave–particle resonances leads to a large diffusive loss, scaling as (δB/B)2. In beam heated discharges, coherent fast-ion losses have been observed primarily due to TAEs. Core localized, low amplitude NBI driven RSAEs have not been observed to cause significant coherent fast-ion losses. The temporal evolution of the confined fast-ion profile in the presence of RSAEs and TAEs has been monitored with high spatial and temporal resolution. A large drop in the central fast-ion density due to many RSAEs has been observed as qmin passes through an integer. The AE radial and poloidal structures have been obtained with unprecedented details using a fast SXR as well as 1D and 2D ECE radiometers. GOURDON and HAGIS simulations have been performed to identify the orbit topology of the escaping ions and study the transport mechanisms. Both passing and trapped ions are strongly redistributed by AEs.

MHD induced Fast-Ion Losses on ASDEX Upgrade

A detailed knowledge of the interplay between MHD instabilities and energetic particles has been gained from direct measurements of fast-ion losses (FILs). Time-resolved energy and pitch angle measurements of FIL caused by neoclassical tearing modes (NTMs) and toroidicity-induced Alfven eigenmodes (TAEs) have been obtained using a scintillator based FIL detector. The study of FIL due to TAEs has revealed the existence of a new core-localized MHD fluctuation, the Sierpes mode. The Sierpes mode is a non-pure Alfvenic fluctuation which appears in the acoustic branch, dominating the transport of fast-ions in ICRF heated discharges. The internal structure of both TAEs and Sierpes mode has been reconstructed by means of highly resolved multichord soft x-ray measurements. A spatial overlapping of their eigenfunctions leads to a FIL coupling, showing the strong influence that a core-localized fast-ion driven MHD instability may have on the fast-ion transport. We have identified the FIL mechanisms due to NTMs as well as due to TAEs. Drift islands formed by fast-ions in particle phase space are responsible for the loss of NBI fast-ions due to NTMs. In ICRF heated plasmas, a resonance condition fulfilled by the characteristic trapped fast-ion orbit frequencies leads to a phase matching between fast-ion orbit and NTM or TAE magnetic fluctuation. The banana tips of a resonant trapped fast-ion bounce radially due to an E × B drift in the TAE case. The NTM radial bounce of the fast-ion banana tips is caused by the radial component of the perturbed magnetic field lines.

L–H power threshold studies in JET with Be/W and C wall

A comparison of the L?H power threshold (Pthr) in JET with all carbon, JET-C, and beryllium/tungsten wall (the ITER-like choice), JET-ILW, has been carried out in experiments with slow input power ramps and matched plasma shapes, divertor configuration and IP/BT pairs. The low density dependence of the L?H power threshold, namely an increase below a minimum density ne,min, which was first observed in JET with the MkII-GB divertor and C wall and subsequently not observed with the current MkII-HD geometry, is observed again with JET-ILW. At plasma densities above ne,min, Pthr is reduced by ?30%, and by ?40% when the radiation from the bulk plasma is subtracted (Psep), with JET-ILW compared to JET-C. At the L?H transition the electron temperature at the edge, where the pedestal later develops, is also lower with JET-ILW, for a given edge density. With JET-ILW the minimum density is found to increase roughly linearly with magnetic field, , while the power threshold at the minimum density scales as . The H-mode power threshold in JET-ILW is found to be sensitive both to variations in main plasma shape (Psep decreases with increasing lower triangularity and increases with upper triangularity) and in divertor configuration. When the data are recast in terms of Psep and Zeff or subdivertor neutral pressure a linear correlation is found, pointing to a possible role of Zeff and/or subdivertor neutral pressure in the L?H transition physics. Depending on the chosen divertor configuration, Pthr can be up to a factor of two lower than the ITPA scaling law for densities above ne,min. A shallow edge radial electric field well is observed at the L?H transition. The edge impurity ion poloidal velocity remains low, close to its L-mode values, ?5?km?s?1???2?3?km?s?1, at the L?H transition and throughout the H-mode phase, with no measureable increase within the experimental uncertainties. The edge toroidal rotation profile does not contribute to the depth of the negative Er well and thus may not be correlated with the formation of the edge transport barrier in JET.

Gamma-ray spectroscopy measurements of confined fast ions on ASDEX upgrade

Evidence of ?-ray emission from fast ions in ASDEX Upgrade (AUG) is presented. The plasma scenarios developed for the experiments involve deuteron or proton acceleration. The observed ?-ray emission level induced by energetic protons is used to determine the effective tail temperature of the proton distribution function that can be compared with neutral particle analyser measurements. More generally the measured emission rate is used to assess the confinement of protons with energies <400?keV in discharges affected by toroidal Alfv?n eigenmode instabilities. The derived information on confined ions is combined with observations made with the AUG fast ion loss detector.

Structure and dynamics of spontaneous and induced ELMs on ASDEX Upgrade

In order to assess the contribution of edge localized modes (ELMs) to plasma–wall interaction in future fusion experiments like ITER, a sound experimental database for model validation and extrapolation, and, to be prepared for the unfavourable case, the development of tools for ELM mitigation are required. On ASDEX Upgrade a large amount of experimental information has been accumulated from various diagnostics on the structure and dynamics of natural as well as pellet induced ELMs, and on related wall effects. In this paper a survey of type-I ELM results is given first and recent progress is then described in detail. In between ELMs, strong mode activity is observed in a wide mode number and frequency range, specifically large amplitude (~20%) low frequency (several kilohertz) fluctuations. The initial dynamic ELM phase is dominated by the rapid growth of helical, low mode number structures rotating in the pedestal E × B direction, while the subsequent saturation and profile erosion phase is more complex and scenario dependent. Bursts of filaments ejected from the hot edge into the scrape-off layer are correlated with primary pedestal mode rotation. After partial edge profile collapse, a quiescent recovery phase is obtained despite substantial residual edge gradients. Pellet induced ELMs behave similarly to spontaneous ones, at least for the smallest pellets available so far.