Plasma confinement in tokamaks with robust torus

We present a non-linear symplectic map that describes the alterations of the magnetic field lines inside the tokamak plasma due to the presence of a robust torus (RT) at the plasma edge. This RT prevents the magnetic field lines from reaching the tokamak wall and reduces, in its vicinity, the islands and invariant curve destruction due to resonant perturbations. The map describes the equilibrium magnetic field lines perturbed by resonances created by ergodic magnetic limiters (EMLs). We present the results obtained for twist and non-twist mappings derived for monotonic and non-monotonic plasma current density radial profiles, respectively. Our results indicate that the RT implementation would decrease the field line transport at the tokamak plasma edge.     

Topology of toroidal helical fields in non-circular cross-sectional tokamaks

The ordinary differential magnetic field line equations are solved numerically; the tokamak magnetic structure is studied on Hefei Tokamak-7 Upgrade （HT-TU） when the equilibrium field with a monotonic q-profile is perturbed by a helical magnetic field. We find that a single mode （m, n） helical perturbation can cause the formation of islands on rational surfaces with q=m/n and q=（m±1,±2,±3,...）/n due to the toroidicity and plasma shape （i.e. elongation and triangularity）, while there are many undestroyed magnetic surfaces called Kolmogorov-Arnold-Moser （KAM） barriers on irrational surfaces. The islands on the same rational surface do not have the same size. When the ratio between the perturbing magnetic field Br（r） and the toroidal magnetic field amplitude Bφ0 is large enough, the magnetic island chains on different rational surfaces will overlap and chaotic orbits appear in the overlapping area, and the magnetic field becomes stochastic. It is remarkable that the stochastic layer appears first in the plasma edge region.     

The structure of chaotic magnetic field lines in a tokamak withexternal nonsymmetric magnetic perturbations

We consider the effects of external nonsymmetric magnetostatic perturbations caused by resonant helical windings and a chaotic magnetic limiter on the plasma confined in a tokamak. The main purpose of both types of perturbation is to create a region in which field lines are chaotic in the Lagrangian sense: two initially nearby field lines diverge exponentially through many turns around the tokamak. The equilibrium field is obtained from the equations of magneto-hydrodynamic equilibrium written down in a polar toroidal coordinate system. The magnetic fields generated by the resonant helical windings and the chaotic magnetic limiter are obtained through an analytical solution of Laplace equation. The magnetic field line equations are integrated to give a Hamiltonian mapping of field lines that we use to characterize the structure of chaotic field lines. In the case of resonant windings, we obtained the map by both numerical integration and a Hamiltonian formulation. For a chaotic limiter, we analytically derived a symplectic map by using a Hamiltonian formulation     

Control of asymmetric magnetic perturbations in tokamaks

The sensitivity of tokamak plasmas to very small deviations from the axisymmetry of the magnetic field |deltaB/B| approximately 10{-4} is well known. What was not understood until very recently is the importance of the perturbation to the plasma equilibrium in assessing the effects of externally produced asymmetries in the magnetic field, even far from a stability limit. DIII-D and NSTX experiments find that when the deleterious effects of asymmetries are mitigated, the external asymmetric field was often made stronger and had an increased interaction with the magnetic field of the unperturbed equilibrium. This Letter explains these counterintuitive results. The explanation using ideal perturbed equilibria has important implications for the control of field errors in all toroidal plasmas.     

Current clamp at zero level in JT-60U current hole plasmas

It is found that no current is driven in a central region of a tokamak plasma once the central current density becomes nearly zero ("current hole"), in spite of high electric conductivity, at the current drive by a toroidal electric field and a radio-frequency wave in experiments on the JT-60U tokamak. This is a new, stiff, self-organized structure of a magnetic field in an axisymmetric toroidal plasma.     

Error field amplification and rotation damping in tokamak plasmas

Toroidal rotation is normally very weakly damped in plasmas that are magnetically confined in the nominally toroidally symmetric tokamak. However, a strong damping of toroidal rotation is observed as such plasmas approach marginal stability for perturbations that produce a kinklike distortion of the plasma. It is shown that the damping of toroidal rotation by very small departures of the magnetic field from toroidal symmetry is greatly enhanced as marginal stability is approached. The response of a plasma to perturbations is studied using a set of electrical circuit elements, which provide an equation for the rotational damping that requires minimal information about the plasma.     

Magnetic field in a finite toroidal domain

The magnetic field structure in a domain surrounded by a closed toroidal magnetic surface is analyzed. It is shown that ergodization of magnetic field lines is possible even in a regular field configuration (with nonvanishing toroidal component). A unified approach is used to describe magnetic fields with nested toroidal (possibly asymmetric) flux surfaces, magnetic islands, and ergodic field lines.     

HL-1装置主机的工程调试

本文叙述了HL-1装置主机在工程调试和等离子体放电中所涉及的主要技术问题。文中详述了场形和变压器芯柱伏秒数的一些测量结果,并阐述了主机的工作状况和一些技术性能。目前该装置已运行于B_t=2.3T,I_p=135kA参数下,运行情况表明:HL-1装置主机有着较好的技术性能,基本上满足物理实验的要求。     

First observation of edge localized modes mitigation with resonant and nonresonant magnetic perturbations in ASDEX Upgrade

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.     

Geodesic acoustic modes and zonal flows in toroidally rotating tokamak plasmas

The effect of equilibrium toroidal rotation on the rotational eigen-modes in large aspect ratio tokamak is studied. The case of equilibrium with uniform plasma density on magnetic surfaces is considered. It is shown that the toroidal rotation results in a frequency up-shift of ordinary Geodesic Acoustic Modes. A new unstable low frequency branch of the continuum modes is found. This mode appears as a consequence of the non-uniform plasma pressure created by the centrifugal force on the magnetic surfaces. This mode represents a linear eigen-mode counterpart of Zonal Flow modes. It is shown that the growth rate of such a mode increases with the increase of the angular velocity of toroidal rotation.     

HL-2M 装置环向场线圈的工程研制与调试

介绍了 HL-2M 装置环向场(TF)线圈的工程设计、关键制造工艺及其调试结果。目前，TF 线圈最大通电电流达到 42kA，对应 TF 线圈产生的磁场为 0.66T，满足 HL-2M 装置初始放电需求。      

Effect of neoclassical toroidal viscosity on error-field penetration thresholds in tokamak plasmas

A model for field-error penetration is developed that includes nonresonant as well as the usual resonant field-error effects. The nonresonant components cause a neoclassical toroidal viscous torque that keeps the plasma rotating at a rate comparable to the ion diamagnetic frequency. The new theory is used to examine resonant error-field penetration threshold scaling in Ohmic tokamak plasmas. Compared to previous theoretical results, we find the plasma is less susceptible to error-field penetration and locking, by a factor that depends on the nonresonant error-field amplitude.     

Measurement of natural plasma flow along the field lines in the scrape-Off layer on the JT-60U divertor tokamak

The plasma profile and parallel plasma flow in the scrape-off layer (SOL) were systematically measured using reciprocating Mach probes installed at the outer midplane and near the divertor magnetic null (x point) in the JT-60U tokamak with a single null divertor. For the ion vertical drift due to the toroidal magnetic field gradient (ion nablaB drift) directed towards the divertor, SOL plasma flow along the magnetic field lines away from the divertor ("flow reversal") was discovered at the midplane far from the divertor. A quantitative evaluation of the ion "Pfirsch-Schluter flow," wherein the parallel flow is naturally produced in a toroidal plasma, was consistent with the measurement.     

A confident source of hard X‐rays: radiation from a tokamak applicable for runaway electrons diagnosis

In a tokamak with a toroidal electric field, electrons that exceed the critical velocity are freely accelerated and can reach very high energies. These so‐called `runaway electrons' can cause severe damage to the vacuum vessel and are a dangerous source of hard X‐rays. Here the effect of toroidal electric and magnetic field changes on the characteristics of runaway electrons is reported. A possible technique for runaways diagnosis is the detection of hard X‐ray radiation; for this purpose, a scintillator (NaI) was used. Because of the high loop voltage at the beginning of a plasma, this investigation was carried out on toroidal electric field changes in the first 5 ms interval from the beginning of the plasma. In addition, the toroidal magnetic field was monitored for the whole discharge time. The results indicate that with increasing toroidal electric field the mean energy of runaway electrons rises, and also an increase in the toroidal magnetic field can result in a decrease in intensity of magnetohydrodynamic oscillations which means that for both conditions more of these high‐energy electrons will be generated.     

Tokamak equilibria with toroidal-current reversal in the plasma core consistent with experimental data

For the first time, tokamak equilibria with negative toroidal current flowing in the plasma core are computed consistently with available measurements from typical current-hole discharges. The equilibrium reconstruction, which leads to non-nested configurations where a system of axisymmetric magnetic islands unfolds, yields an overall good agreement between the computed and experimental plasma-pressure profiles, together with an excellent fit to motional-Stark-effect data. Therefore, considering the accuracy limits of present-day experimental results, care must be exercised when ruling out the existence of tokamak equilibria with central toroidal-current reversal, particularly if relying on reconstruction tools that cannot cope with non-nested configurations.     

KT—5B托卡马克上阿尔芬波加热实验中天线阻抗的测量

一、引 言 托卡马克等离子体中的阿尔芬波加热实验研究自80年代初以来取得了许多有价值的实验结果。在阿尔芬波加热实验中,天线辐射阻抗的测量是十分重要的。天线辐射阻抗的变化不仅直接反映了阿尔芬波与等离子体之间的能量耦合情况,而且也反映了波在等离子体中传播过程的某些物理特性。例如,出现离散阿尔芬波(DAW模)或表面静电波(SEW模)便会使阻抗出现较大的峰值。因此,探索一种简便易行又能反映阻抗随放电时间变化的细微     

Evidence for high-m secondary islands induced by large low-m islands in a tokamak plasma

Small-scale structures with high poloidal mode numbers (m=10-20) have been observed in the TEXTOR tokamak plasma with pulsed radar reflectometry and an electron cyclotron emission diagnostic, in conjunction with large 2/1 and 1/1 islands. The small islands have a peaked density profile, similar to that of the simultaneously observed large-scale 2/1 islands. This together with the observation that high-frequency density and temperature fluctuations are very pronounced near the X points of the large islands hints to a strongly perturbed magnetic topology around the X points.     

Using external coils to correct field errors in tokamaks

Non axisymmetric correction coils can be highly effective at canceling the low order magnetic islands generated by magnetic field errors. Correction coil currents which, by themselves, mould produce an island of the same size and opposite phase as the error field, will result in cancelled magnetic islands. In computing the magnetic island sizes and toroidal phases of perturbations, the use of a straight-cylinder approximation can cause substantial error. An n=1 error with arbitrary phase can be corrected at a single resonant surface with one set of four correction coils. Correcting higher n harmonics requires more coils toroidally. Correcting same-n errors at more than one rational surface requires more correction coil sets     

Parallel Correlation Studies of Fluctuations and the Impact of Perturbations in the Magnetic Configuration

The plasma turbulence in the boundary of fusion relevant experiments is known to have a quasi two‐dimensional nature: the scale lengths perpendicular to the magnetic field are in the order of mm to cm, but parallel to the magnetic field, the correlation lengths are in the order of several meters. Recent parallel correlation studies with Langmuir probes at the JET tokamak over very long connection lengths (23 m and 66 m probe tip separation along the magnetic field) showed a correlation of less than 50%, in contrast to the finding of 80–90% correlation in other devices at measurements with smaller probe tip separations. However, it was not clear if this is a genuine physical property of the electrostatic turbulence in the scrape‐off layer or whether perturbations in the magnetic configuration had caused an additional decorrelation by a time‐dependent misalignment of the two probe tips along the connecting field line. In this contribution we analyze the effect of such perturbations in the magnetic configuration on the parallel correlation measurements in a simple model and compare the results with those of the measurements at JET.