Rotational stabilization of resistive wall modes by the shear alfvén resonance

It is found that resistive wall modes with a toroidal number n = 1 in tokamaks can be stabilized by plasma rotation at a low Mach number, with the rotation frequency being lower than the ion bounce frequency but larger than the ion and electron precession drift frequencies. The stabilization is the result of the shear-Alfvén resonance, since the thermal resonance effect is negligible in this rotation frequency range. This indicates that tokamaks can operate at normalized pressure values beyond the no-wall stability limit even for low values of plasma rotation, such as those expected in fusion reactor scale devices.     

ITER装置中等离子体旋转和反馈控制对电阻壁模影响的数值研究

在托卡马克等离子体中,电阻壁模是非常重要的磁流体不稳定性,特征时间在毫秒量级.对长时间稳态运行下的先进托卡马克,电阻壁模限制着聚变装置的运行参数空间(放电时间和比压),影响经济效益,所以研究电阻壁模稳定性至关重要.本文使用MARS程序,针对ITER装置上9 MA先进运行平衡位形,研究了等离子体旋转和反馈控制对电阻壁模的影响.结果表明,在没有反馈控制时,当比压参数Cβ取0.7,等离子体环向旋转频率达到1.1%的阿尔芬频率时,可以完全稳定电阻壁模;在等离子体环向旋转和反馈控制共同作用时,比压参数Cβ取0.7,反馈增益|G|取0.6时,稳定电阻壁模所需要的等离子体旋转频率为0.2%的阿尔芬频率.可见,单独靠等离子体环向旋转稳定电阻壁模所需的旋转频率较大;而等离子体环向旋转和反馈控制共同作用可以降低稳定电阻壁模的旋转频率临界值,符合先进托卡马克的运行.本文的研究结果对中国聚变工程试验堆CFETR的工程设计和运行具有一定指导意义.     

Identification of a low plasma-rotation threshold for stabilization of the resistive-wall mode

The plasma rotation necessary for stabilization of resistive-wall modes (RWMs) is investigated by controlling the toroidal plasma rotation with external momentum input by injection of tangential neutral beams. The observed threshold is 0.3% of the Alfvén velocity and much smaller than the previous experimental results obtained with magnetic braking. This low critical rotation has a very weak beta dependence as the ideal wall limit is approached. These results indicate that for large plasmas such as in future fusion reactors with low rotation, the requirement of the additional feedback control system for stabilizing RWM is much reduced.     

Reduced critical rotation for resistive-wall mode stabilization in a near-axisymmetric configuration

Recent DIII-D experiments with reduced neutral beam torque and minimum nonaxisymmetric perturbations of the magnetic field show a significant reduction of the toroidal plasma rotation required for the stabilization of the resistive-wall mode (RWM) below the threshold values observed in experiments that apply nonaxisymmetric magnetic fields to slow the plasma rotation. A toroidal rotation frequency of less than 10 krad/s at the q=2 surface (measured with charge exchange recombination spectroscopy using C VI) corresponding to 0.3% of the inverse of the toroidal Alfvén time is sufficient to sustain the plasma pressure above the ideal MHD no-wall stability limit. The low-rotation threshold is found to be consistent with predictions by a kinetic model of RWM damping.     

Stabilization of the resistive wall mode by a rotating solid conductor

Stabilization of the resistive wall mode (RWM) by high-speed differentially rotating conducting walls is demonstrated in the laboratory. To observe stabilization intrinsic azimuthal plasma rotation must be braked with error fields. Above a critical error field the RWM frequency discontinuously slows (locks) and fast growth subsequently occurs. Wall rotation is found to reduce the locked RWM saturated amplitude and growth rate, with both static (vacuum vessel) wall locked and slowly rotating RWMs observed depending on the alignment of wall to plasma rotation. At high wall rotation RWM onset is found to occur at larger plasma currents, thus increasing the RWM-stable operation window.     

Measurement of the resistive-wall-mode stability in a rotating plasma using active MHD spectroscopy

The stability of the resistive-wall mode (RWM) in DIII-D plasmas above the conventional pressure limit, where toroidal plasma rotation in the order of a few percent of the Alfve n velocity is sufficient to stabilize the n=1 RWM, has been probed using the technique of active MHD spectroscopy at frequencies of a few Hertz. The measured frequency spectrum of the plasma response to externally applied rotating resonant magnetic fields is well described by a single-mode approach and provides an absolute measurement of the damping rate and the natural mode rotation frequency of the stable RWM.     

Thermoelectric rotating torus for fusion

A plasma toroid is rotated toroidally to supersonic speeds by external means. The input power maintains the rotation and also heats the plasma. The thermoelectric effect from the resulting temperature gradient creates and maintains a poloidal magnetic field against resistive decay, confining the plasma in steady state. The shear in the rotation keeps the plasma stable to MHD kinks and interchanges. Such a system has two novel advantages as a fusion device: there are no strong electromagnets needed to create the confining magnetic field, and there is effectively no limit on the field strength and, hence, no limit on the plasma pressure contained. The system has to be of a large aspect ratio, to minimize centrifugal effects, and a weak, external vertical magnetic field is needed to balance the radial hoop force.     

Effect of collisionality on kinetic stability of the resistive wall mode

The impact of collisionless, energy-independent, and energy-dependent collisionality models on the kinetic stability of the resistive wall mode is examined for high pressure plasmas in the National Spherical Torus Experiment. Future devices will have decreased collisionality, which previous stability models predict to be universally destabilizing. In contrast, in kinetic theory reduced ion-ion collisions are shown to lead to a significant stability increase when the plasma rotation frequency is in a stabilizing resonance with the ion precession drift frequency. When the plasma is in a reduced stability state with rotation in between resonances, collisionality will have little effect on stability.     

Numerical study of physical properties of resistive wall modes in tokamaks

The effect of plasma with toroidal rotation on the resistive wall modes in tokamaks is studied numerically. An eigenvalue method is adopted to calculate the growth rate of the modes for changing plasma resistivity and plasma density distribution, as well as the diffusion time of magnetic field through the resistive wall. It is found that the resistive wall mode can be suppressed by the toroidal rotation of the plasma. Also, the growth rate of the resistive wall mode decreases when the edge plasma density is the same as the core plasma density, but it only changes slightly with the plasma resistivity.     

Antiproton cloud compression in the ALPHA apparatus at CERN

We have observed a new mechanism for compression of a non-neutral plasma, where antiprotons embedded in an electron plasma are compressed by a rotating wall drive at a frequency close to the sum of the axial bounce and rotation frequencies. The radius of the antiproton cloud is reduced by up to a factor of 20 and the smallest radius measured is ～ 0.2 mm. When the rotating wall drive is applied to either a pure electron or pure antiproton plasma, no compression is observed in the frequency range of interest. The frequency range over which compression is evident is compared to the sum of the antiproton bounce frequency and the system’s rotation frequency. It is suggested that bounce resonant transport is a likely explanation for the compression of antiproton clouds in this regime.     

Suppression of the magnetic surface shift by plasma rotation in a tokamak

The equilibrium of a toroidally rotating plasma in an axisymmetric tokamak-like system is considered. The equilibrium equation is represented in the form of the Grad-Shafranov equation in which, in contrast to the static case (with no plasma rotation), the plasma pressure depends on both the flux surface label and major radius. It is shown that the dependence of the pressure on the major radius makes it possible to choose the profile of the plasma rotation velocity so as to minimize the effect of the plasma pressure on the shift of the flux surfaces, in which case it might be anticipated that the maximum pressure of the confined plasma will be higher. This result was derived analytically and tested numerically for a number of typical tokamak configurations with a fixed plasma boundary.     

Generation of sheath in magnetized plasma under the impact of slow rotation

In this study, we have tried to investigate the generation of sheath in magnetized plasma rotating with a uniform angular velocity about an axis making an angle with the direction of plasma-acoustic wave propagation. In a marked contrast to the earlier studies, here the simultaneous impact of slow rotation and external magnetic field has been taken into consideration. Previous studies have revealed that the Coriolis force generated from rotation has a tendency to produce an equivalent magnetic field effect as and when the ionized medium rotates. The variations of sheath potential with normalized distance for different values of angles of rotation as well as for different values of Mach number have also been investigated for typical plasma parameters.     

Role of pressure gradient on intrinsic toroidal rotation in tokamak plasmas

The toroidal plasma rotation generated by the external momentum input and by the plasma itself (intrinsic rotation) has been separated through a novel momentum transport analysis in the JT-60U tokamak device. The toroidal rotation, which is not determined by the momentum transport coefficients and the external momentum input, has been observed. It is found that this intrinsic rotation is locally determined by the local pressure gradient and increases with increasing pressure gradient. This trend is almost the same for various plasmas: low and high confinement mode, co and counterrotating plasmas.     

Role of flow shear in the ballooning stability of tokamak transport barriers

A tokamak's confinement time is greatly increased by a transport barrier (TB), a region having a high pressure gradient and usually also a strongly sheared plasma flow. The pressure gradient in a TB can be limited by ideal magnetohydrodynamic instabilities with a high toroidal mode number n ("ballooning modes"). Previous studies in the limit n--> infinity showed that arbitrarily small (but nonzero) flow shears have a large stabilizing influence. In contrast, the more realistic finite n ballooning modes studied here are found to be insensitive to sub-Alfvénic flow shears, provided the magnetic shear s approximately 1 (typical for TBs near the plasma's edge). However, for the lower magnetic shears that are associated with internal transport barriers, significantly lower flow shears will influence ballooning mode stability, and flow shear should be retained in the analysis of their stability.     

Resonant field amplification near the RWM stability boundary in a tokamak

Evolution of a resistive wall mode (RWM)—a magnetic field perturbation produced by a plasma and partially stabilized by a conducting wall—is considered. It is assumed that there is a small resonant harmonic in the spectrum of the static error field. It is shown that the effect of this harmonic on the dynamics of stable RWMs increases as the plasma approaches the RWM stability boundary. The error field is “amplified” during the transition through this boundary. The smaller the rotation velocity of the perturbation and the longer the time during which the plasma stays near the stability boundary, the stronger this amplification is.     

器壁旋转模式下液体平衡状态的分析

基于器壁带动液体旋转稳定后形成的抛物面,推导出器壁斜率为K(K≠0)时的恒等式.得出K→∞时,随着转速增加,液位的变化是无限的,液位的上升高度与下降深度恒相等,旋转抛物体与同底同高圆柱体积关系为定值;当K＞0时,容器为上大下小的圆筒,旋转抛物面导致的液位变化是有限的,存在的极限值为√3+1,当液体旋转角速度超过临界角速...     

基于柔性屏蔽材料混响室的设计与应用

利用柔性屏蔽材料不平整性使屏蔽腔内场环境易于满足各向同性、均匀分布、随机极化统计特征的特点,研究了三种不同柔性屏蔽材料搭建的模式搅拌混响室的可行性。在Z字形搅拌器的作用下通过测量得到低频场均匀性和高频归一化电场的概率密度函数,根据IEC 61000-4-21-2011标准和理想混响室模型验证了所搭建混响室的有效性。在此基础之上,通过实验测量分析了搅拌器转速、天线高度、天线位置对归一化电场概率密度函数(PDF)的影响,并利用所搭建混响室对加载开孔电大金属腔的电磁屏蔽效能进行了测试。研究结果表明利用柔性屏蔽材料搭建混响室具有较好的可行性。     

Evidence for the importance of trapped particle resonances for resistive wall mode stability in high beta tokamak plasmas

Active measurements of the plasma stability in tokamak plasmas reveal the importance of kinetic resonances for resistive wall mode stability. The rotation dependence of the magnetic plasma response to externally applied quasistatic n=1 magnetic fields clearly shows the signatures of an interaction between the resistive wall mode and the precession and bounce motions of trapped thermal ions, as predicted by a perturbative model of plasma stability including kinetic effects. The identification of the stabilization mechanism is an essential step towards quantitative predictions for the prospects of "passive" resistive wall mode stabilization, i.e., without the use of an "active" feedback system, in fusion-alpha heated plasmas.     

Angular momentum transport in thin accretion disks and intermittent accretion

The plasma modes, transporting angular momentum in accretion disks, under minimally restrictive conditions when the magnetic energy density is significant relative to the thermal energy density, are shown to be singular if the ideal MHD approximation is adopted. A similarity with the modes producing magnetic reconnection in current carrying plasmas is established. The combined effects of finite plasma temperature, of plasma compressibility, of the gradient of the rotation frequency, and of appropriate transport processes (outside ideal MHD) are involved in the onset of these nonaxisymmetric and locally corotating modes.