Y. Nagayama

Tomography of full sawtooth crashes on the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor

Full sawtooth crashes in high temperature plasmas have been investigated on the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) [Plasma Phys. Controlled Fusion 33, 1509 (1991)]. A strong asymmetry in the direction of major radius, a feature of the ballooning mode, and a remaining m=1 region after the crash have been observed with electron cyclotron emission image reconstructions. The TFTR data is not consistent with two‐dimensional (2‐D) models; it rather suggests a three‐dimensional (3‐D) localized reconnection arising on the bad curvature side. This process explains the phenomenon of fast heat transfer which keeps the condition q0<1.

Overview of TFTR transport studies

A review of TFTR plasma transport studies is presented. Parallel transport and the confinement of suprathermal ions are found to be relatively well described by theory. Cross-field transport of the thermal plasma, however, is anomalous with the momentum diffusivity being comparable to the ion thermal diffusivity and larger than the electron thermal diffusivity in neutral beam heated discharges. Perturbative experiments have studied nonlinear dependencies in the transport coefficients and examined the role of possible nonlocal phenomena. The underlying turbulence has been studied using microwave scattering, beam emission spectroscopy and microwave reflectometry over a much broader range in k perpendicular to than previously possible. Results indicate the existence of large-wavelength fluctuations correlated with enhanced transport.

Correlations of heat and momentum transport in the TFTR tokamak

Measurements of the toroidal rotation speed vφ(r) driven by neutral beam injection in tokamak plasmas and, in particular, simultaneous profile measurements of vφ, Ti, Te, and ne, have provided new insights into the nature of anomalous transport in tokamaks. Low‐recycling plasmas heated with unidirectional neutral beam injection exhibit a strong correlation among the local diffusivities, χφ≊χi>χe. Recent measurements have confirmed similar behavior in broad‐density L‐mode plasmas. These results are consistent with the conjecture that electrostatic turbulence is the dominant transport mechanism in the tokamak fusion test reactor tokamak (TFTR) [Phys. Rev. Lett. 58, 1004 (1987)], and are inconsistent with predictions both from test‐particle models of strong magnetic turbulence and from ripple transport. Toroidal rotation speed measurements in peaked‐density TFTR ‘‘supershots’’ with partially unbalanced beam injection indicate that momentum transport decreases as the density profile becomes more peaked. In hi...

Status and plans for TFTR

AbstractRecent research on TFTR has emphasized optimization of performance in deuterium plasmas, transport studies and studies of energetic ion and fusion product physics in preparation for the D-T experiments that will commence in July of 1993. TFTR has achieved full hardware design parameters, and the best TFTR discharges in deuterium are projected to QDT of 0.3 to 0.5.The physics phenomena that will be studied during the D-T phase will include: tritium particle confinement and fueling, ICRF heating with tritium, species scaling with tritium, collective alpha-particle instabilities, alpha heating of the plasma and helium ash buildup. It is important for the fusion program that these physics issues be addressed to identify regimes of benign alpha behavior, and to develop techniques to actively stabilize or control instabilities driver by collective alpha effects.

Tomography of (2, 1) and (3, 2) magnetic island structures on Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor

High‐resolution electron cyclotron emission (ECE) image reconstruction has been used to observe (m,n)=(2,1) and (3, 2) island structures on Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor [Plasma Phys. Controlled. Fusion 33, 1509 (1991)], where m and n are the poloidal and the toroidal mode number, respectively. The observed island structure is compared with other diagnostics, such as soft x‐ray tomography and magnetic measurements. A cold elliptic island is observed after lithium pellet injection. Evidence for the enhancement of the heat transfer due to the island is observed. A relaxation phenomenon due to the m=2 mode is newly observed in Ohmic plasmas.

Investigation of ballooning modes in high poloidal beta plasmas in the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor

Medium‐n (toroidal mode number) instabilities with ballooning characteristics were investigated using x‐ray and electron‐cyclotron emission (ECE) imaging techniques in the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) [R. J. Hawryluk et al., Plasma Phys. Controlled Fusion 33, 1509 (1991)]. The poloidal mode numbers were determined by fitting the data to soft x‐ray signals simulated with a wave‐packet model, and the toroidal mode numbers were determined from the phase difference between the soft x‐ray and ECE signals. The modes are identified as ideal ballooning modes from the observation that the identified mode numbers are much higher than that of the usual kink or tearing modes, the mode has a strong ballooning characteristic, the growth rate is consistent with the theoretical prediction, and the equilibrium is theoretically predicted to be marginal to the infinite n ballooning mode. The ballooning mode accompanies a β collapse which happens near the Troyon limit in TFTR. The ballooning mode has also been observed...

ECE image reconstruction of partial sawtooth crashes in ohmic plasmas

Partial sawtooth crashes in ohmic plasmas on TFTR are analysed using the high resolution electron cyclotron emission (ECE) image reconstruction technique. During the partial sawtooth crash, (m,n)=(2,2) or (3,3) modes are dominant. The (1,1) mode occurs after the partial crash. The partial sawtooth crash can be explained by the flattening of the (2,2) or (3,3) islands due to the localized reconnection