[en] The present COMPASS tokamak at the Institute of Plasma Physics in Prague is equipped with the 2-mm interferometer, which gives a possibility to measure line-average electron densities up to 1.2×10²⁰ m^−³. A high magnetic field tokamak COMPASS-U will be designed and built to replace COMPASS. Higher line-average plasma densities in COMPASS-U of about 5×10²⁰ m^−³ will require a new design of the interferometer. This will provide measurements in a wide density range and will allow using a real-time gas puff density feedback. A solution based on the solid-state technology is proposed. The system will use two microwave transceivers with close sub-millimeter wavelengths and will fulfill the principle of the unambiguous measurement. An assessment of signal corrections corresponding to non-linearity effects caused by plasma refractive index is performed. The ray-tracing FIESTA-8 code was used to model the propagation of the probing waves through COMPASS-U plasmas.

[en] This paper presents two scenarios used for generation of a runaway electron (RE) beam in the COMPASS tokamak with a focus on the decay phase and control of the beam. The first scenario consists of massive gas injection of argon into the current ramp-up phase, leading to a disruption accompanied by runaway plateau generation. In the second scenario, injection of a smaller amount of gas is used in order to isolate the RE beam from high-temperature plasma. The performances of current control and radial and vertical position feedback control in the second scenario were experimentally studied and analysed. The role of RE energy in the radial position stability of the RE beam seems to be crucial. A comparison of the decay phase of the RE beam in various amounts of Ar or Ne was studied using absolute extreme ultraviolet (AXUV) tomography and hard x-ray (HXR) intensity measurement. Argon clearly leads to higher HXR fluxes for the same current decay rate than neon, while radiated power based on AXUV measurements is larger for Ne in the same set of discharges. (paper)

[en] First systematic measurements of pedestal structure during Ohmic and NBI-assisted Type I ELMy H-modes were performed on the COMPASS tokamak in two dedicated experimental campaigns during 2015 and 2016. By adjusting the NBI heating and a toroidal magnetic field, the electron pedestal temperature was increased from 200 eV up to 300 eV, which allowed reaching pedestal collisionality ${\mathrm{\nu <!--\; ??\; -->}}_{\text{ped}}^{\ast <!--\; ???\; -->}$  <  1 at q₉₅ ∼3. COMPASS has approached conditions for the Identity experiment done at JET and DIII-D, complementing the range of scanned ${\mathrm{\rho <!--\; ??\; -->}}_{\text{ped}}^{\ast <!--\; ???\; -->}$. The pedestal pressure was successfully reproduced by the EPED model. The dependence of pedestal pressure width on ${\mathrm{\nu <!--\; ??\; -->}}_{\text{ped}}^{\ast <!--\; ???\; -->}$ and ${\mathrm{\beta <!--\; ??\; -->}}_{\text{ped}}^{\text{pol}}$ is discussed. (paper)

[en] Partial detachment is the desired regime for the baseline burning plasma scenario in ITER and other next-step devices, as it allows for the dissipation of the majority of the energy carried by charged particles through the scrape-off-layer and thus avoids localised heat flux deposition in the divertor region. The COMPASS tokamak is equipped with an open divertor and has a relatively short connection length, both factors being unfavourable for access to detachment. As such, it only allows for the approach to naturally detached operation at very high line-averaged densities (>10²⁰ m⁻³), which are incompatible with maintaining the ELMy H-mode regime. In order to achieve detachment at lower densities, impurities (such as nitrogen) must be injected into the plasma in the divertor region.

A series of experiments with impurity injection in the range of 1–9 10²⁰ molecules per second at different locations in the divertor were performed with the aim being to cool the plasma and influence particle and heat transport onto the divertor targets and provoke partial detachment. Previously reported results (Komm et al 2017 Proc. of the 44th EPS Conf. P1.118) were largely extended by injection of nitrogen at the outer divertor target.

In order to analyze the divertor heat flux footprint in seeded plasmas, the buffered heat flux q _B was introduced, with the radial profile being approximated by an exponential decay. A new set of generic parameters—the peak heat flux , the fraction of power reaching the target and divertor footprint spreading factor S _f— were proposed to characterise the divertor footprint under detached conditions. (paper)

[en] The role of the COMPASS tokamak in research of generation, confinement and losses of runaway electron (RE) population is presented. Recently, two major groups of experiments aimed at improved understanding and control of the REs have been pursued. First, the effects of the massive gas injection ($\sim <!--\; ???\; -->{10}^{21}$ Ar/Ne particles) and impurity seeding ($\sim <!--\; ???\; -->{10}^{18}$ particles) were studied systematically. The observed phenomena include generation of the post-disruption RE beam and current conversion from plasma to RE. Zero loop voltage control was implemented in order to study the decay in simplified conditions. A distinctive drop of background plasma temperature and electron density was observed following an additional deuterium injection into the RE beam. With the loop voltage control the parametric dependence of the current decay rate dI/dt can be studied systematically and possibly extrapolated to larger facilities. Second, recent results of experiments focused on the role of the magnetic field in physics of RE were analysed. In this contribution, special attention is given to the observed effects of the resonant magnetic perturbation on the RE population. The benefits of the RE experiments on COMPASS was reinforced by diagnostic enhancements (fast cameras, Cherenkov detector, vertical ECE etc) and modelling efforts (in particular, coupling of the METIS and LUKE codes). (paper)

[en] Substantial power dissipation in the edge plasma is required for the safe operation of ITER and next-step fusion reactors, otherwise unmitigated heat fluxes at the divertor plasma-facing components (PFCs) would easily exceed their material limits. Traditionally, such heat flux mitigation is linked to the regime of detachment, which is characterised by a significant pressure gradient between upstream and downstream scrape-off layer (SOL). However, the physics phenomena responsible for power dissipation and pressure loss are distinctly different, especially when the power dissipation is achieved by impurity seeding. In principle, it is possible to achieve substantial mitigation of the heat fluxes while maintaining conservation of the pressure along the open field lines in the SOL. This regime can be accessed by injection of medium- or high-Z impurities, which mostly radiate inside the last closed flux surface. The critical question related to such an approach is the effect on confinement and perspective fusion power generation in future thermonuclear reactors. In this work, we report on experiments at COMPASS tokamak, where neon and argon impurities were injected in ohmic or NBI-heated low confinement plasmas. With appropriate seeding waveform, stable scenarios were achieved, avoiding the radiative collapse of plasmas. Significant reduction of heat fluxes at the outer target was observed, with heat flux pattern similar to the one previously achieved by nitrogen seeding. The reduction of downstream pressure was, however, accompanied by an equal reduction of upstream pressure, indicating that the power dissipation occurred inside the separatrix. Indeed, the impurity cooling is causing a significant drop of edge temperature; however, the effect in the plasma centre is much less pronounced. (paper)