Evolution of lower-hybrid-driven current during the formation of an internal transport barrier

Evolution of the lower-hybrid(LH)-driven current profile was measured during the formation of an internal transport barrier (ITB) in a reversed magnetic shear discharge. As the ITB developed, the initially centrally peaked LH-driven current profile gradually turned hollow and was sometimes accompanied by an off-axis peak in the electron temperature profile. These observations indicate the concentration of LH power deposition to the ITB for this case as a result of nonlinear coupling between the LH waves and the target plasma.     

Stability of internal transport barriers to ideal MHD ballooning modes

Internal transport barriers (ITB) in tokamaks can form near a minimum in the q profile, q(min), where magnetic shear is weak. We have analyzed their stability to short wavelength (n>1, where n is the toroidal mode number) ideal MHD ballooning modes, by considering the s-alpha model equilibrium. We show that the ballooning transformation fails in regions of low shear but that one can then adopt a complementary approach based on the recurrence relation describing the toroidal coupling of radially localized modes on adjacent rational surfaces. Inclusion of the stabilizing effects of favorable average curvature or finite-n using this technique leads to stable high-pressure ITB configurations. The theory also shows the advantages of operating with low-order rational values of q(min).     

Surface Discharges for Soft X-Ray Preionization in Light-Ion-Fusion Accelerators

We are investigating surface discharges as extreme ultraviolet (XUV) photon sources for preionizing anode surfaces of ion diodes in light-ion-fusion accelerators. Preionization is important both to control the diode impedance and to efficiently generate an ion beam. The surface discharges and their power feeds were constructed in a strip-line configuration to minimize overall system inductance. In some cases a 0.6-?F peaking capacitor was added to the circuit as close as possible to the surface discharge. These discharges radiated peak XUV powers of over 20 MW and total energies of over 5 J when driven by a low-energy (480 J) capacitor bank. These discharges were used to preionize the anode surface in an Applied-B diode on the Nereus accelerator (500 kV,40 kA). Preionizing a cleaned LiF anode with 60 kW/cm2 of XUV photons resulted in improved beam uniformity, flatter impedance profile, and a factor of 4 more ion beam energy coupled through the diode.     

Suppression of plasma turbulence during optimized shear configurations in JET

Correlation of density turbulence suppression and reduced plasma transport is observed in the internal transport barrier (ITB) region of JET tokamak discharges with optimized magnetic shear. The suppression occurs in two stages. First, low frequency turbulence and ion transport are reduced across the plasma core by a toroidal velocity shear generated by intense auxiliary heating. Then with the ITB formation, high frequency turbulence and electron transport are reduced locally within the steep pressure gradient region of the ITB.     

JET quasistationary internal-transport-barrier operation with active control of the pressure profile

Quasistationary operation has been achieved on the Joint European Torus tokamak in internal-transport-barrier (ITB) scenarios, with the discharge time limited only by plant constraints. Full current drive was obtained over all the high performance phase by using lower hybrid current drive. For the first time feedback control on the total pressure and on the electron temperature profile was implemented by using, respectively, the neutral beams and the ion-cyclotron waves. Although impurity accumulation could be a problem in steady state ITBs, these experiments bring some elements to answer to it.     

Poloidal rotation dynamics, radial electric field, and neoclassical theory in the jet internal-transport-barrier region

Results from the first measurements of a core plasma poloidal rotation velocity (upsilontheta) across internal transport barriers (ITB) on JET are presented. The spatial and temporal evolution of the ITB can be followed along with the upsilontheta radial profiles, providing a very clear link between the location of the steepest region of the ion temperature gradient and localized spin-up of upsilontheta. The upsilontheta measurements are an order of magnitude higher than the neoclassical predictions for thermal particles in the ITB region, contrary to the close agreement found between the determined and predicted particle and heat transport coefficients [K.-D. Zastrow, Plasma Phys. Controlled Fusion 46, B255 (2004)]. These results have significant implications for the understanding of transport barrier dynamics due to their large impact on the measured radial electric field profile.     

Spatial structures of continuous microwave discharge

The paper deals with the results of investigations of spatial structures of continuous microwave discharge in a quasi-optical resonator. The results are given of experimental observations and easurements of the parameters of plasma in discharges of different forms, and the reasons are analyzed for the formation of spatial discharge structures. It is demonstrated that, as a result of the plasma-resonance amplification of the field, the discharge makes a transition to the contracted state with a size that is much less than the microwave-frequency wavelength and with an electron concentration in excess of the critical. It is found that the stratification of the contracted state across the electric field vector, which arises in some gases, is caused by the development of thermoelectric-current instability that was not previously observed in microwave discharges.     

大气压空气中重复频率纳秒脉冲气体放电模式研究

利用上升沿100ns、脉宽150ns的单级磁压缩纳秒脉冲电源,通过电压电流测量和放电图像拍摄实验,研究了大气压空气中极不均匀电场结构重复频率纳秒脉冲气体放电的放电模式。结果表明纳秒脉冲气体放电存在三种典型的放电模式:电晕放电、弥散放电和火花放电。施加的脉冲电压幅值对放电模式影响显著,随着电压幅值的增加,放电依次经历电晕、弥散和火花放电。固定电压幅值时,放电可能同时存在两种模式。重复频率加强了放电强度,弥散放电的激发电压随重复频率的增加变化不大,但火花放电的激发电压随着重复频率的增加而降低。因此降低重复频率有利于在较大电压范围获得大气压空气弥散放电。     

EAST H模等离子体中离子内部输运垒特性 的初步实验研究

为了研究EAST上H模等离子体中离子内部输运垒(ITB)的特性，利用电荷交换复合光谱诊断，分析了离子ITB形成和稳态阶段等离子体离子温度和环向旋转速度的时空演化。结果表明，在离子ITB形成和稳定期间，ITB肩部附近(R=1.928m)的离子温度梯度增加时，ITB区域(R=1.984m)的离子温度梯度会有所降低，反之亦然。考虑到在离子ITB形成前，芯部区域不同半径位置的离子温度梯度同时增加或减小，得到了在R=1.984m处判断离子ITB是否形成的归一化离子温度梯度的阈值。     

The Influence of Stochastic Layers of Magnetic Field Lines on Transport Barrier Formation in a Stellarator System

The results of local measurements of RF discharge plasma parameters in the process of internal transport barriers (ITB) formation in the vicinity of rational magnetic surfaces in the Uragan-3M torsatron are presented. The following phenomena were observed in the process of ITB formation: widening of the radial density distribution, formation of plateaus on radial density and electron temperature distributions, formation of regions with high shear of poloidal plasma rotation velocity and radial electric field in the vicinity of stochastic layers of magnetic field lines, decrease of density fluctuations and their radial correlation length, decorrelation of density fluctuations, and increase of the bootstrap current.After the ITB formation, the transition to the improved plasma confinement regime takes place. The transition moves to the beginning of the discharge with the increase of heating power. The possible mechanism of ITB formation near rational surfaces is discussed.     

Visualization of the local ionic wind profile in a DC corona discharge field by laser-induced phosphorescence emission

Experimental visualization for ionic wind motion originated from DC corona discharges in a needle-plate electrode system has been investigated. A vapor-phase biacetyl tracer with laser-induced phosphorescence emission is used for optically characterizing the ionic wind profile. The ionic wind blows the excited biacetyl molecules away in continuing the visible phosphorescence emission for a long radiative lifetime. The captured image with elapsing time from the excitation presents the shifting location of radiative tracer along the ionic wind direction. The experimental results show the ionic wind profile enhanced in the electric field direction corresponding to the corona discharge progress. Especially, the ionic wind near an initiating point of corona discharges is focused as an advantage of this optical technique. The ionic wind velocity along the electrode axis can be obtained at the location close enough to the corona discharge initiation point, and the velocity at 0.5 mm from the discharge point is figured out as 9.3 to 19.2 m/s under the condition of the EHD Reynolds number of 0.95×10³ to 2.1×10³.     

气流对微秒脉冲滑动放电特性的影响

脉冲电源驱动的滑动放电能够在大气压下产生高能量、高功率密度的低温等离子体. 为了研究微秒脉冲电源在针-针电极结构中产生滑动放电的特征, 本文采用电压幅值为0–30 kV, 脉冲宽度约8 μs, 脉冲重复频率为1–3000 Hz的微秒脉冲电源, 通过测量电压、电流波形和拍摄放电图像, 研究了微秒脉冲滑动放电的电特性. 实验结果表明, 随着施加电压的增加微秒脉冲滑动放电存在三种典型的放电模式: 电晕放电、弥散放电和类滑动放电. 不同放电模式的电压、电流波形和放电图像之间差异显著. 脉冲重复频率对微秒脉冲滑动放电特性有影响, 表现为当气体流量较小(2 L/min)时, 类滑动放电的放电通道随着脉冲重复频率的增大逐渐集中, 而当气体流量较大(16 L/min)时, 类滑动放电的放电通道随着脉冲重复频率的增大逐渐分散. 不同气流下重复频率对滑动放电特性的影响与放电中粒子的记忆效应和气流的状态有关.     

On the Polishing Effect of Nanosecond Discharges in Vacuum

When a metal surface in ultra high vacuum is subjected to electric discharges with a sufficiently short duration the surface becomes perfectly smooth. This polishing is caused by the inertia of the molten metal within a cathode spot that prevents the formation of a crater by acceleration of the liquid. The present paper reports an investigation of this phenomenon in dependence on the discharge parameters. The effect was found to be determined by the pulse duration, it occurs with pulses of less than 10 nanoseconds. But also long discharges of 500 ns show a polishing if the current rise rate is below a critical value (0.5 — 1 A/ns), depending on the cathode material. Thus long discharges consist of elementary steps of about 10 ns duration, in accordance with the formation time of cathode craters. The polishing effect causes an abrupt decrease of the breakdown probability of rectangular high voltage pulses from one to zero at a critical pulse duration.     

Experimental determination of critical threshold in electron transport on Tore Supra

In Tore Supra plasmas with fast wave electron heating, a critical threshold in the electron temperature gradient (inverted DeltaT(e)) is clearly observed, i.e., a finite value of inverted DeltaT(e) for which the turbulent heat diffusivity vanishes. The radial profile of this critical gradient is experimentally determined from a set of discharges characterized by similar plasma parameters with fast wave powers ranging from 0.75 to 7.4 MW. The dependence of the electron heat flux on the gradient length is found to be offset linearly. The offset term increases linearly with the ratio of the local magnetic shear to the safety factor.     

大气压介质阻挡放电的光谱研究

使用水电极介质阻挡放电装置,分别在大气压空气和氦气中实现了稳定的高气压放电。通过水电极观察两种气体的放电,发现大气压空气中放电为空间随机分布的微放电丝,等离子体是不均匀的,而在氦气中放电没有微放电丝,空间分布比较均匀。比较而言,这种均匀放电产生的等离子体具有更广泛的工业应用前景。对两种气体中放电的电流波形进行了比较,发现空气中放电的电流脉冲在时间上是随机出现的而氦气中放电的电流脉冲在时间上具有周期性,并且空气中放电脉冲宽度约为几十ns而氦气中放电的电流持续时间较长,脉冲宽度大约为1μs。文章还对两种气体中介质阻挡放电发射光谱进行了研究,结果表明大气压氦气中均匀放电的N+₂(B2Σ+_u→X2Σ+_g)谱线391.4nm很强而在大气压空气放电中此光谱线很弱。这些研究结果对高气压条件下均匀放电的实现和大气压辉光放电的工业应用具有重要意义。     

The influence of the discharge parameters on the plasma spatial structuring in argon DBDs

The plasma parameters, discharge plasma uniformity and filamentation processes in high pressure (near atmospheric pressure) dielectric barrier discharges (DBD) in argon are studied using the developed two-dimensional 2D(r, z) model. The applied voltage frequency, the voltage shape, the dielectric layers material and its thickness are varied and the effects of such variations on plasma uniformity, discharge structure and operation are studied. The DBD discharges with different dielectric layers thickness, dielectric constants and secondary electron emission coefficients are simulated. It was shown that the dielectric layer thickness is an important parameter for producing high pressure discharges uniform over the radius. The possibility of the radially uniform discharges at atmospheric pressure was shown in the present study.     

HL─1装置等离子体输运与锯齿特性的数值研究

本文利用一维圆柱等离子体输运编码（ＴＲＡＮＰＹ），编制了模拟锯齿振荡的大型编码（ＳＡＷＭＯＤ）。对锯齿振荡的研究，我们选用了两种具有代表性的理论模型：重联模型和湍流模型，后者特别适用于低ｑａ放电的锯齿特性研究。重联模型的锯齿振荡是由于磁力线的完全重联引起的，而湍流模型的锯齿振荡是因为微观湍流或磁力线的随机化而产生的。最后，我们将ＨＬ─１装置的一次典型高密放电的参数代入（ＳＡＷＭＯＤ）编码，运算结果表明，重联模型和湍流模型均能解释实验观测的锯齿现象，理论模拟与实验结果符合较好。     

Stability-transport modeling of the SINP tokamak discharges

A one-dimensional stability transport code has been developed to simulate the evolution of tokamak plasma discharges. Explicit finite-difference methods have been used to follow the temporal evolution of the electron temperature equation. The poloidal field diffusion equation has been solved at every time step. The effects of MHD instabilities have been incorporated by solving equations for MHD mixing and tearing modes as and when required. The code has been applied to follow the evolution of tokamak plasma discharges obtained in the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics (SINP) tokamak. From these simulations, we have been able to identify the possible models of thermal conductivity, diffusion and impurity contents in these discharges. Effects of different MHD modes have been estimated. It has been found that in low q ₀ discharge m=1, n=1 and m=2, n=1 modes play major role in discharge evolution. These modes are found to result in the positive jump in the loop voltage which was also observed in the experiments. Hollow current density profile j _φ and negative shear in the q profile have also been found in the rising phase of a discharge.     

HL－1装置几种锯齿崩溃机制的层析摄影研究

本文采用二维层析摄影技术研究了ＨＬ－１装置几种锯齿崩溃的机制。在高密度欧姆放电中，观测到在类锯齿崩溃时，对流泡对中心热心的挤压。在纯欧姆放电中，观测到长达４４ｍｓ的大锯齿，在崩溃时出现了强的对流和冷泡对等离子体柱的扰动，并可能发生与其它磁流体不稳定模式的耦合作用。在微波反锯齿振荡和相对应的软Ｘ射线反锯齿振荡的研究中，观察到了软Ｘ射线辐射截面从一个圆变成一个椭圆的现象     

Negative edge plasma currents in the SINP tokamak

A tokamak plasma discharge having an increase in duration accompanied with enhanced runaway electron flux has been experimentally studied in this paper. The discharges have been obtained by controlling the applied vertical magnetic field (B_v^applB_{\rm{v}}^{\rm{appl}}) to below a critical value. Such discharges have been observed to have ‘negative edge plasma currents’, detected using an internal Rogowskii coil (IRC). We have tried to correlate the runaway behaviour with the negative edge plasma currents and have explained that these observations are a result of beam plasma instabilities.