ABSTRACT
Field-line localized ballooning modes have been observed at the edge of high confinement mode plasmas in ASDEX Upgrade with rotating 3D perturbations induced by an externally applied n=2 error field and during a moderate level of edge localized mode mitigation. The observed ballooning modes are localized to the field lines which experience one of the two zero crossings of the radial flux surface displacement during one rotation period. The localization of the ballooning modes agrees very well with the localization of the largest growth rates from infinite-n ideal ballooning stability calculations using a realistic 3D ideal magnetohydrodynamic equilibrium. This analysis predicts a lower stability with respect to the axisymmetric case. The primary mechanism for the local lower stability is the 3D distortion of the local magnetic shear.
ABSTRACT
First experiments with nonaxisymmetric magnetic perturbations, toroidal mode number n=2, produced by newly installed in-vessel saddle coils in the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak show significant reduction of plasma energy loss and peak divertor power load associated with type-I edge localized modes (ELMs) in high-confinement mode plasmas. ELM mitigation is observed above an edge density threshold and is obtained both with magnetic perturbations that are resonant and not resonant with the edge safety factor profile. Compared with unperturbed type-I ELMy reference plasmas, plasmas with mitigated ELMs show similar confinement, similar plasma density, and lower tungsten impurity concentration.
ABSTRACT
A scintillator based detector for fast-ion losses has been designed and installed on the ASDEX upgrade (AUG) tokamak [A. Herrmann and O. Gruber, Fusion Sci. Technol. 44, 569 (2003)]. The detector resolves in time the energy and pitch angle of fast-ion losses induced by magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) fluctuations. The use of a novel scintillator material with a very short decay time and high quantum efficiency allows to identify the MHD fluctuations responsible for the ion losses through Fourier analysis. A Faraday cup (secondary scintillator plate) has been embedded behind the scintillator plate for an absolute calibration of the detector. The detector is mounted on a manipulator to vary its radial position with respect to the plasma. A thermocouple on the inner side of the graphite protection enables the safety search for the most adequate radial position. To align the scintillator light pattern with the light detectors a system composed by a lens and a vacuum-compatible halogen lamp has been allocated within the detector head. In this paper, the design of the scintillator probe, as well as the new technique used to analyze the data through spectrograms will be described. A last section is devoted to discuss the diagnosis prospects of this method for ITER [M. Shimada et al., Nucl. Fusion 47, S1 (2007)].
ABSTRACT
The fundamental question of how the flow velocity of the background plasma can influence the motion of magnetohydrodynamics instabilities and, in the ultimate analysis, their stability is addressed. The growth of resistive-wall-mode instabilities in toroidal confinement devices well represents one example of such a problem. In this Letter, we illustrate a new strategy that allowed, for the first time in a reversed field pinch experiment, a fully controlled rotation of a nonresonant instability by means of a set of active coils and how the new findings compare with numerical modeling.
ABSTRACT
Time-resolved energy and pitch angle measurements of fast-ion losses correlated in frequency and phase with high-frequency magnetohydrodynamic perturbations have been obtained for the first time in a magnetic fusion device and are presented here. A detailed analysis of fast-ion losses due to toroidal Alfvén eigenmodes has revealed the existence of a new core-localized magnetohydrodynamic perturbation, the sierpes mode. The sierpes mode is a non-Alfvénic instability which dominates the losses of fast ions in ion cyclotron resonance heated discharges, and it is named for its footprint in the spectrograms ("sierpes" means "snake" in Spanish). The sierpes mode has been reconstructed by means of highly resolved multichord soft-x-ray measurements.
ABSTRACT
The efficiency of generating a helical current in magnetic islands for the purpose of suppression of neoclassical tearing modes (NTMs) by electron cyclotron current drive (ECCD) is studied experimentally in the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak. It is found that the efficiency of generating helical current by continuous current drive in a rotating island drops drastically as the width 2d of the co-ECCD driven current becomes larger than the island width W. However, by modulating the co-ECCD in phase with the rotating islands O point, the efficiency can be recovered. The results are in good agreement with theoretical calculations taking into account the equilibration of the externally driven current on the island flux surfaces. The result is especially important for large next-step fusion devices, such as ITER, where 2d>W is expected to be unavoidable during NTM suppression, suggesting that modulation capability should be foreseen.
ABSTRACT
High confinement [with H = 1, ITERH- 98( y,2)] at beta(N) approximately 2.3 has been found in ASDEX Upgrade discharges with existing (m,n) = (3,2) neoclassical tearing modes (NTMs). The reason for the high confinement at high beta(N) values is a transition of the NTMs into the so-called frequently interrupted regime. In this regime, the NTM growth is frequently interrupted by sudden drops in amplitude. Because of the long NTM growth time, the resulting averaged NTM amplitude remains much smaller than the corresponding saturated value. As this behavior with the beneficial effect on energy confinement has been confirmed at JET, such a high confinement regime at beta(N)>2 might also be expected for ITER.
ABSTRACT
Noninductive current drive has been performed in the tokamak ASDEX upgrade by injection of radiofrequency waves at the second harmonic of the electron-cyclotron frequency in order to suppress unwanted disturbances of the magnetic-field configuration. The current has been driven parallel [co-electron cyclotron current drive (ECCD)] and antiparallel (counter-ECCD) to the plasma current to compare the effect of heating with direct current drive in the magnetic island. For the first time it has been shown experimentally that total stabilization of neoclassical tearing modes is possible with co-ECCD. The experiments verify the role of direct current drive as opposed to local heating.
