Comparing pedestal structure in JET-ILW H-mode plasmas with a model for stiff ETG turbulent heat transport.

A predictive model for the electron temperature profile of the H-mode pedestal is described, and its results are compared with the pedestal structure of JET-ILW plasmas. The model is based on a scaling for the gyro-Bohm normalized, turbulent electron heat flux [Formula: see text] resulting from electron temperature gradient (ETG) turbulence, derived from results of nonlinear gyrokinetic (GK) calculations for the steep gradient region. By using the local temperature gradient scale length [Formula: see text] in the normalization, the dependence of [Formula: see text] on the normalized gradients [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] can be represented by a unified scaling with the parameter [Formula: see text], to which the linear stability of ETG turbulence is sensitive when the density gradient is sufficiently steep. For a prescribed density profile, the value of [Formula: see text] determined from this scaling, required to maintain a constant electron heat flux [Formula: see text] across the pedestal, is used to calculate the temperature profile. Reasonable agreement with measurements is found for different cases, the model providing an explanation of the relative widths and shifts of the [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] profiles, as well as highlighting the importance of the separatrix boundary conditions. Other cases showing disagreement indicate conditions where other branches of turbulence might dominate. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'H-mode transition and pedestal studies in fusion plasmas'.

Kinetic instabilities that limit ß in the edge of a tokamak plasma: a picture of an H-mode pedestal.

Plasma equilibria reconstructed from the Mega-Amp Spherical Tokamak have sufficient resolution to capture plasma evolution during the short period between edge-localized modes (ELMs). Immediately after the ELM, steep gradients in pressure, P, and density, n(e), form pedestals close to the separatrix, and they then expand into the core. Local gyrokinetic analysis over the ELM cycle reveals the dominant microinstabilities at perpendicular wavelengths of the order of the ion Larmor radius. These are kinetic ballooning modes in the pedestal and microtearing modes in the core close to the pedestal top. The evolving growth rate spectra, supported by gyrokinetic analysis using artificial local equilibrium scans, suggest a new physical picture for the formation and arrest of this pedestal.

Zero-turbulence manifold in a toroidal plasma.

Sheared toroidal flows can cause bifurcations to zero-turbulent-transport states in tokamak plasmas. The maximum temperature gradients that can be reached are limited by subcritical turbulence driven by the parallel velocity gradient. Here it is shown that q/ϵ (magnetic field pitch/inverse aspect ratio) is a critical control parameter for sheared tokamak turbulence. By reducing q/ϵ, far higher temperature gradients can be achieved without triggering turbulence, in some instances comparable to those found experimentally in transport barriers. The zero-turbulence manifold is mapped out, in the zero-magnetic-shear limit, over the parameter space (γ(E), q/ϵ, R/L(T)), where γ(E) is the perpendicular flow shear and R/L(T) is the normalized inverse temperature gradient scale. The extent to which it can be constructed from linear theory is discussed.

Turbulent transport in tokamak plasmas with rotational shear.

Nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations are conducted to investigate turbulent transport in tokamak plasmas with rotational shear. At sufficiently large flow shears, linear instabilities are suppressed, but transiently growing modes drive subcritical turbulence whose amplitude increases with flow shear. This leads to a local minimum in the heat flux, indicating an optimal E×B shear value for plasma confinement. Local maxima in the momentum fluxes are observed, implying the possibility of bifurcations in the E×B shear. The critical temperature gradient for the onset of turbulence increases with flow shear at low flow shears; at higher flow shears, the dependence of heat flux on temperature gradient becomes less stiff. The turbulent Prandtl number is found to be largely independent of temperature and flow gradients, with a value close to unity.

Transport bifurcation in a rotating tokamak plasma.

The effect of flow shear on turbulent transport in tokamaks is studied numerically in the experimentally relevant limit of zero magnetic shear. It is found that the plasma is linearly stable for all nonzero flow shear values, but that subcritical turbulence can be sustained nonlinearly at a wide range of temperature gradients. Flow shear increases the nonlinear temperature gradient threshold for turbulence but also increases the sensitivity of the heat flux to changes in the temperature gradient, except over a small range near the threshold where the sensitivity is decreased. A bifurcation in the equilibrium gradients is found: for a given input of heat, it is possible, by varying the applied torque, to trigger a transition to significantly higher temperature and flow gradients.

L-H transition in the mega-amp spherical tokamak.

H-mode plasmas have been achieved on the MAST spherical tokamak at input power considerably higher than predicted by conventional threshold scalings. Following L- H transition, a clear improvement in energy confinement is obtained, exceeding recent international scalings even at densities approaching the Greenwald density limit. Transition is accompanied by an order-of-magnitude increase in edge-density gradient, a marked decrease in turbulence, the efficient conversion of internal electron Bernstein waves into free space waves, and the onset and saturation of edge poloidal rotation.