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.     

Influence of energetic ions on tearing modes

In contrast with the stability effects of trapped energetic ions on tearing modes, the effects of circulating energetic ions (CEI) on tearing modes depend on the toroidal circulating direction, and are closely related to the momentum of energetic ions. CEI provide an additional source or sink of momentum to affect tearing modes. For co-CEI, tearing modes can be stabilized if the momentum of energetic ions is large enough. On the other hand, the growth of tearing modes can be enhanced by counter-CEI. Further, a possibility to suppress the island growth of neoclassical tearing modes by co-CEI is pointed out.     

靶结构对激光等离子体动量耦合系数的影响

强激光与靶相互作用产生的等离子体可以作为一种新型的推进源.就强激光与靶相互作用过程中，靶结构对激光等离子体动量耦合系数的影响进行了研究.结果表明，相对于无约束的平面靶，坑靶将动量耦合系数提高了5倍，而约束的平面靶将动量耦合系数提高了10倍以上.分析发现，对等离子体的有效约束是提高动量耦合系数的主要原因. 关键词： 激光等离子体 推进 动量耦合系数     

Role of kinetic effects on the polarization current around a magnetic island

The polarization current due to a magnetic island rotating in a tokamak plasma is believed to play a central role in the initial evolution of the neoclassical tearing mode. Monte Carlo delta f simulations are performed which also cover a parameter range that is not amenable to analytic treatment but is relevant to experiments. It is shown that the polarization current can change sign when the island rotation frequency is of the order of the ion parallel streaming around the island. Moreover, the current is reduced when the island width is of the order of the ion banana width. Finally, the transition to the enhanced high-collisionality regime is shown to occur for collision frequencies higher than those typical of today's experiments.     

Stabilization of tearing mode by current drive

The major disruption limits the operation of present tokamaks. Experimental evidences point out that the growth of tearing modes or the magnetic islands is primarily responsible for the occurrence. Taking the non-inductive current drive effects into account, a set of 3D nonlinear equation is derived. It is shown from simulation that the growth of the magnetic island is suppressed effectively by RF current drive. It is consistent with recent experiments on the HL-1 tokamak in which the plasma is stabilized by an RF current drive.     

Compressibility effects on double tearing mode interlocking in differentially rotating plasmas

Effects of compressibility on the double tearing modes (DTMs) in rotating plasmas are numerically investigated by using a compressible magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) model. It is found that due to the compressibility effects, the threshold of the interlocking magnetic island width in the slow and intermediate rotation regimes is larger than the counterpart in the incompressible plasmas. In the fast rotation regime, the compressible effect makes the DTM islands interlock more easily and faster. Moreover, in the very fast rotation regime, the plasma rotation can more effectively suppress the DTM islands. The scalings of the interlocking threshold in the different rotation regimes are obtained. Effects of plasma viscosity and beta on the DTM interlocking in the compressible plasmas are also discussed.     

流动等离子体对托卡马克中撕裂模的影响

本文分析了托卡马克中的等离子体具有一个整体流动速度时,撕裂模的活动情况。分析与数值计算指出,等离子体的整体流动(等价于具有一个旋转频率)不影响撕裂模的活动,只是使撕裂模具有一个和等离子体相同的旋转频率。外加螺旋场在撕裂层能有效地抑制住等离子体的旋转。螺旋场对撕裂模的稳定作用不受等离子体旋转的影响。 关键词：     

Resistive wall mode in collisionless quasistationary plasmas

The stability analysis of the n=1 resistive wall mode is carried out for a simplified model of collisionless tokamak plasma. It is found that the trapped particle compressibility and the resonance between the mode and the precession drift frequency lead to a significant improvement of the beta stability limits. It is shown that, within the frame of the simplified model, the resistive wall mode can be fully suppressed and the plasma can be stable up to the wall beta limits for a slow plasma rotation.     

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.     

Faraday Rotation of Overdense Magnetized Plasma

In this study, we investigate Faraday rotation of electromagnetic waves that are anomalously transmitted through an over‐dense magnetized plasma layer. Here, magnetized plasma indicates that the plasma layer is immersed in a uniform magnetic field. Firstly, normally opaque over‐dense magnetized plasma is shown to be transparent to obliquely incident electromagnetic waves. This high transparency can be achieved by providing conditions for resonant excitations of plasmonic modes. The resonant characteristics of the transmission coefficient of the considered structure are determined and discussed. The conditions under which the magnetized plasma behaves as a complete reflector are also obtained. Faraday rotation is shown to be enhanced under high transparency conditions. The reflected wave also exhibits Faraday rotation and is enhanced under total reflection conditions. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Forced magnetic reconnection and field penetration of an externally applied rotating helical magnetic field in the TEXTOR tokamak

The magnetic field penetration process into a magnetized plasma is of basic interest both for plasma physics and astrophysics. In this context special measurements on the field penetration and field amplification are performed by a Hall probe on the dynamic ergodic divertor (DED) on the TEXTOR tokamak and the data are interpreted by a two-fluid plasma model. It is observed that the growth of the forced magnetic reconnection by the rotating DED field is accompanied by a change of the plasma fluid rotation. The differential rotation frequency between the DED field and the plasma plays an important role in the process of the excitation of tearing modes. The momentum input from the rotating DED field to the plasma is interpreted by both a ponderomotive force at the rational surface and a radial electric field modified by an edge ergodization.     

Toroidal plasma rotation induced by the dynamic ergodic divertor in the TEXTOR tokamak

The first results of the Dynamic Ergodic Divertor in TEXTOR, when operating in the m/n=3/1 mode configuration, are presented. The deeply penetrating external magnetic field perturbation of this configuration increases the toroidal plasma rotation. Staying below the excitation threshold for the m/n=2/1 tearing mode, this toroidal rotation is always in the direction of the plasma current, even if the toroidal projection of the rotating magnetic field perturbation is in the opposite direction. The observed toroidal rotation direction is consistent with a radial electric field, generated by an enhanced electron transport in the ergodic layers near the resonances of the perturbation. This is an effect different from theoretical predictions, which assume a direct coupling between rotating perturbation and plasma to be the dominant effect of momentum transfer.     

High Coupling Efficiency Generation in Water Confined Laser Plasma Propulsion

High coupling efficiency generation in water confined laser plasma propulsion is investigated. It is found that the coupling efficiency is enhanced over thirty times in water confined ablation compared to that of direct ablation. From calculation of the ablation pressure induced by the plasma on the target surface, it is realized that high coupling efficiency is attributed to the confinement of the water layer on the plasma expansion.     

Effect of trapped energetic ions on MHD activity in spherical tori

It is shown that the increase of β (the ratio of plasma pressure to the magnetic field pressure) may change the character of the influence of trapped energetic ions on MHD stability in spherical tori. Namely, the energetic ions, which stabilize MHD modes (such as the ideal kink mode, collisionless tearing mode and semi-collisional tearing mode) at low β, have a destabilizing influence at high β unless the radial distribution of the energetic ions is very peaked.     

Instabilities responsible for magnetic turbulence in laboratory rotating plasma

Instabilities responsible for magnetic turbulence in laboratory rotating plasma are investigated. It is shown that the plasma compressibility gives a new driving mechanism in addition to the known Velikhov effect due to the negative rotation frequency gradient. This new mechanism is related to the perpendicular plasma pressure gradient, while the density gradient gives an additional drive depending also on the pressure gradient. It is shown that these new effects can manifest themselves even in the absence of the equilibrium magnetic field, which corresponds to nonmagnetic instabilities.     

Stability of a Rotating Compressible Stratified Plasma in the Presence of Hall Currents and Magnetic Resistivity

The dynamic instability in a horizontal layer of a rotaing compressible plasma of variable density has been investigated to examine the influence of the simultaneous presence of the effects of Hall currents and finite magnetic resistivity. The linearized stability analysis has been carried out through the normal mode technique. By making use of the existence of a variational principle which is shown to characterize the problem, proper solutions have been obtained for a semiinfinite plasma in which there is an exponential density gradient along the vertical. The dispersion relation obtained has been solved numerically and it is found that both the resistivity and the Hall currents have a destabilizing influence as the growth rate of the unstable disturbances increases with increasing values of the parameters characterizing these effects. On the other hand, the Coriolis forces are found to have a stabilizing influence for in this case the growth rate decreases with increasing rotation.     

Effects of Hall Currents on the Self-Gravitational Instability of a Finitely Conducting Plasma of Variable Density

The effects of Hall currents have been studied on the hydromagnetic stability of a self-gravitating, incompressible, viscous and finitely conducting plasma of variable density. For a uniform and horizontal magnetic field which is present, it is shown that the problem is characterized by a variational principle. Making use of this, proper solutions have been obtained for a semi-infinite plasma in which the density varies one-dimensionally (exponentially) along the vertical. The dispersion relation has been solved numerically for the different values of the parameters involved. It is found that the growth rate increases with both the Hall currents and resistivity, showing thereby the destabilizing character of these effects. However, the influence of viscosity is found to be stabilizing as the growth rate decreases with viscosity.     

Concept of multipole magnetic field rotation in ECRIS

The conventional type of magnetic well is formed by superposition of two types of magnetic field, axial bumpy field and radial multipole field. It is used to contain plasma that consists of neutrals, ions and electrons. These particles are in constant motion in the well and energetic electrons create plasma by violent collisions with neutrals and ions. The confined electrons are constantly heated by ECR technique in the presence of magnetic field. In this paper it has been shown theoretically that how the electron motion is influenced in terms of heating, containment and azimuthal uniformity of plasma, by the axial rotation of the multipole magnetic field [1,2]. Afterwards, the feasibility of achieving a rotating magnetic multipole field is discussed to some extent. And it is seen that it is not beyond the capability of the scientific community in the present scenario of the advanced technology. Presently, it can be achieved for lesser field and slightly larger size of the multipole electromagnet and can be used for improvement of the ECR ion source (ECRIS).     

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.     

托卡马克中撕裂模的抑制

本文分析与计算了共振螺旋场对自发撕裂模的抑制作用。通过解电阻MHD方程证实了螺旋场能使m=2的撕裂模增长速度减慢一倍左右。同时也讨论和计算了边界控制场对撕裂模的抑制作用。 关键词：