[en] Strong, outward convection of low-Z impurity ions has been observed in DIII-D plasmas which have reduced anomalous transport, a weak density gradient, and a strong ion-temperature gradient. Comparing the measurements with theoretical predictions of collisional (neoclassical) transport indicates that the observed outward convection results from an effect known as ''temperature screening.'' Taking into account the non-negligible effect of anomalous transport, quantitative agreement is found between the measured transport properties and the predicted values, including the strong Z dependence. (c)

[en] A 12-processor Linux PC cluster has been installed to perform between-pulse magnetic equilibrium reconstructions during tokamak operations using the EFIT code written in FORTRAN. The MPICH package implementing message passing interface is employed by EFIT for data distribution and communication. The new system calculates equilibria eight times faster than the previous system yielding a complete equilibrium time history on a 25 ms time scale 4 min after the pulse ends. A graphical interface is provided for users to control the time resolution and the type of EFITs. The next analysis to benefit from the cluster is CERQUICK written in IDL for ion temperature profile analysis. The plan is to expand the cluster so that a full profile analysis (Te, Ti, ne, Vr, Zeff) can be made available between pulses, which lays the ground work for Kinetic EFIT and/or ONETWO power balance analyses

[en] Recent experiments on tokamaks around the world [1-5] have demonstrated discharges with moderately high performance in which the q-profile remains stationary, as measured by the motional Stark effect diagnostic, for periods up to several τ_R. Hybrid discharges are characterize by q_min ∼ 1, high β_N, and good confinement. These discharges have been termed hybrid because of their intermediate nature between that of an ordinary H-mode and advanced tokamak discharges. They form an attractive scenario for ITER as the normalized fusion performance (β_NH_89P/q₉₅²) is at or above that for the ITER baseline Q_fus = 10 scenario, even for q₉₅ as high as 4.6. The startup phase is thought to be crucial to the ultimate evolution of the hybrid discharge. An open question is how hybrid discharges achieve and maintain their stationary state during the initial startup phase. To investigate this aspect of hybrid discharges, we have used the CORSICA code to model the early stages of a discharge. Results clearly indicate that neoclassical current evolution alone is insufficient to account for the time evolution of the q-profile and that an addition of non-inductive current source must be incorporated into the model to reproduce the experimental time history. We include non-inductive neutral beam and bootstrap current sources in the model, and investigate the difference between simulations with these sources and the experimentally inferred q-profile. Further, we have made preliminary estimates of the spatial structure of the current needed to bring the simulation and experiment into agreement. This additional non-inductive source has not been tied to any physical mechanism as yet. We present these results and discuss the implications for hybrid startup on ITER

[en] High performance plasmas, including both hybrid and advanced tokamak (AT) bench-mark discharges, were shown to be highly repeatable in DIII-D over 6000 plasma-seconds of operation during the 2006 campaign with no intervening boron depositions or high temperature bakes. Hybrid and AT discharges with identical control targets were repeated after the initial boronization at the beginning of the 2006 campaign, and again just before and after a second boronization near the end of the 2006 campaign. After a long entry vent between the 2006 and 2007 campaigns, similar discharges were again repeated after the standard high temperature baking and plasma cleanup, but prior to a boronization. Performance metrics, such as β, confinement quality, and density control, were extremely well repeated. A low performance daily reference shot (DRS) was also established as a routine monitor of impurity influx. Over the 2006 campaign, the DRS database indicated little to no secular increase in impurity content. Oxygen content and Ni line emission were higher after the intervening vent, but were still minor contributors to plasma contamination. This indicates that erosion of boron films used for wall conditioning will not be a limitation to establishing long pulse high performance discharges in the new generation of superconducting tokamaks if graphite is used as the primary plasma facing material. These results contrast with recent work in devices using high-Z metallic plasma facing materials, where very frequent refreshing of boron films is required for high performance plasma operation

[en] ELMing (edge-localized) H-mode discharges with densities as high as 40% above the Greenwald density and good energy confinement, H_ITER-89P=2, were obtained with D₂ gas puffing on DIII-D [Chan et al., Proceedings of the 16th IAEA Conference, Montreal (International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, 1996), Vol. 1, p. 95]. These discharges have performance comparable to the best pellet fueled DIII-D discharges. Spontaneous peaking of the density profile was an important factor in obtaining high energy confinement. Without density profile peaking, the energy confinement at high density degraded with reduction in the H-mode pedestal pressure under the stiff temperature profile conditions observed at high density on DIII-D. Reduction in the pedestal pressure was associated with loss of access to the second stable regime for ideal ballooning modes at the edge, and change in the edge-localized mode (ELM) instability from a low to high toroidal mode number. Gyrokinetic stability calculations indicate that the core of the high-density discharges is dominated by ion temperature gradient mode turbulence. A turbulent transport simulation with the GLF23 [Waltz et al., Phys. Plasmas 4, 2482 (1997)] code produced stiff temperature profiles in agreement with the experiment and did not indicate the formation of an internal transport barrier. Helium transport studies showed an anomalous inward particle pinch at high density. The highest density discharges were terminated by onset of a magnetohydromagnetic instability, which is consistent with destabilization of neoclassical tearing modes through peaking of the pressure profile

[en] Analysis of the change in the magnetic field pitch angles during edge localized mode events in high performance, stationary plasmas on the DIII-D tokamak shows rapid (<1 ms) broadening of the current density profile, but only when a m/n=3/2 tearing mode is present. This observation of poloidal magnetic-flux pumping explains an important feature of this scenario, which is the anomalous broadening of the current density profile that beneficially maintains the safety factor above unity and forestalls the sawtooth instability

[en] High performance plasmas and daily reference shots (DRSs) with both L-mode and H-mode phases were used to demonstrate the maintenance of good wall conditions over ∼7000 s of plasma operation in DIII-D with no intervening boronizations or high temperature bakes during each of the 2006 and 2007 campaigns. High performance discharges with high normalized beta and confinement factor and good density control over the duration of the high-power beam injection period were very repeatable over the course of these campaigns. High performance operation was also demonstrated after a six week entry vent followed by the standard high temperature bake at 350 deg. C and plasma conditioning, but prior to a boronization. Over the 2006 and 2007 campaigns, the DRS database indicated little to no secular increase in impurity content. Oxygen content and nickel line emission were higher after the entry vent, but were still minor contributors to plasma contamination compared with carbon. Because DIII-D has a plasma facing surface that is >95% graphite, we take this as a demonstration that erosion of boronization films used for wall conditioning will not be a limitation to establishing long-pulse high performance discharges in the new generation of superconducting tokamaks if graphite is used as the primary plasma facing material.

[en] Recent experiments on DIII-D point to the importance of two factors in determining how effectively the deuterium particle inventory in a tokamak plasma can be controlled through pumping at the divertor target(s): (1) the divertor magnetic balance, i.e., the degree to which the divertor topology is single-null (SN) or double-null (DN), and (2) the direction of the of Bx(divergent)B ion drift with respect to the X-point(s). Changes in divertor magnetic balance near the DN shape have a much stronger effect on the particle exhaust rate at the inner divertor target(s) than on the particle exhaust rate at the outer divertor target(s). The particle exhaust rate for the DN shape is strongest at the outer strike point opposite the Bx(divergent)B ion particle drift direction. Our data suggests that the presence of Bx(divergent)B and ExB ion particle drifts in the scrapeoff layer (SOL) and divertors play an important role in the particle exhaust rates of DN and near-DN plasmas. Particle exhaust rates are shown to depend strongly on the edge (pedestal) density n_e,PED. In the lower range of densities considered in this study, i.e., n_e,PED/ n_GREENWALD<0.4, particle exhaust rates are also found to be approximately proportional to the deuterium recycling intensity in front of the respective plenum entrance. Our results are shown to have implications for particle control in ITER and other future tokamaks

[en] Wide-angle, 2D imaging of Doppler-shifted, Balmer alpha (D_α) emission from high energy injected neutrals, charge exchange recombination (CER) emission from neutral beam interaction with thermal ions and fully stripped impurity ions and visible bremsstrahlung (VB) from the core of DIII-D plasmas has been carried out. Narrowband interference filters were used to isolate the specific wavelength ranges of visible radiation for detection by a tangentially viewing, fast-framing camera. Measurements of the D_α emission from fast neutrals injected into the plasma from the low field side reveal the vertical distribution of the beam, its divergence and the variation in its radial penetration with density. Modeling of this emission using both a full Monte Carlo collisional radiative code as well as a simple beam attenuation code coupled to Atomic Data and Analysis Structure emissivity lookup tables yields qualitative agreement, however the absolute magnitudes of the emissivities in the predicted distribution are larger than those measured. Active measurements of carbon CER brightness are in agreement with those made independently along the beam midplane using DIII-D's multichordal, CER spectrometer system, confirming the potential of this technique for obtaining 2D profiles of impurity density. Passive imaging of VB, which can be inverted to obtain local emissivity profiles, is compared with measurements from both a calibrated filter/photomultiplier array and the standard multichordal CER spectrometer system.

[en] The EPED model predicts the H-mode pedestal height and width based upon two fundamental and calculable constraints: (1) onset of non-local peeling-ballooning modes at low to intermediate mode number, (2) onset of nearly local kinetic ballooning modes at high mode number. We present detailed tests of the EPED model in discharges with edge localized modes (ELMs), employing new high resolution measurements, and finding good quantitative agreement across a range of parameters. The EPED model is then applied for the first time to quiescent H-mode (QH), finding a similar level of agreement between predicted and observed pedestal height and width, and suggesting that the model can be used to predict the critical density for QH-mode operation. Finally, the model is applied toward understanding the suppression of ELMs with 3D resonant magnetic perturbations (RMP). Combining EPED with plasma response physics, a new working model for RMP ELM suppression is developed. We propose that ELMs are suppressed when a “wall” associated with the RMP blocks the inward penetration of the edge transport barrier. A calculation of the required location of this “wall” with EPED is consistent with observed profile changes during RMP ELM suppression and offers an explanation for the observed dependence on safety factor (q₉₅).