Experimental characterization of the electron heat transport in low-density ASDEX upgrade plasmas.

The electron heat transport is investigated in ASDEX Upgrade conventional L-mode plasmas with pure electron heating provided by electron-cyclotron heating (ECH) at low density. Under these conditions, steady-state and ECH modulation experiments indicate without ambiguity that electron heat transport exhibits a clear threshold in inverted Delta T(e)/T(e) and also suggest that it has a gyro-Bohm character.     

Inductive current density perturbations to probe electron internal transport barriers in tokamaks

Improved electron energy confinement in tokamak plasmas, related to internal transport barriers, has been linked to nonmonotonic current density profiles. This is difficult to prove experimentally since usually the current profiles evolve continuously and current injection generally requires significant input power. New experiments are presented, in which the inductive current is used to generate positive and negative current density perturbations in the plasma center, with negligible input power. These results demonstrate unambiguously for the first time that the electron confinement can be modified significantly solely by perturbing the current density profile.     

Probing internal transport barriers with heat pulses in JET

The first electron temperature modulation experiments in plasmas characterized by strong and long-lasting electron and ion internal transport barriers (ITB) have been performed in JET using ion cyclotron resonance heating in mode conversion scheme. The ITB is shown to be a well localized narrow layer with low heat diffusivity, characterized by subcritical transport and loss of stiffness. In addition, results from cold pulse propagation experiments suggest a second order transition process for ITB formation.     

The influences of gas and electron temperatures on electron attachment in gas electrical discharges

Various electron attachment processes are reviewed, emphasising the way in which the rates and products of some selected reactions vary with the attaching gas temperatureT _g, the temperature,T _e, and the energy of the attaching electrons. The examples illustrating the variety of reactions are the efficient dissociative attachment reaction to CCl₄, attachment to SF₆ which involves both dissociative and non-dissociative attachment, attachment to CHCl₃ which requires activation energy, and attachment to CCl₃Br which results in both Cl- and Br- product ions. A model has been presented which is able to quantitatively explain the difference influences ofT _g andT _e on the rates of some of these reactions. Also described are the unusually efficient attachment properties of the fullerene molecules C₆₀ and C₇₀ as revealed by our FALP experiments, noting that these molecules have potential importance as efficient suppressers of electrical breakdown through gases such as those used to insulate high voltage devices. We emphasise throughout this paper the importance of an understanding of the separate influences of gas and electron temperature on attachment reactions for the modelling of practical gas discharge media such as etchant plasmas. We dedicate this paper to Professor Jan Janča on the occasion of his sixtieth birthday in recognition of his major contributions to gas discharge physics.     

Comparison of SOLPS5.0 and SOLPS-ITER simulations for ASDEX upgrade L-mode

This paper examines the backward compatibility of SOLPS-ITER with SOLPS5.0 and produces a basic test of the physics/numerics improvements/additions in SOLPS-ITER recommended by developers, taking an ASDEX Upgrade L-mode simulation as an example. SOLPS-ITER, which is emerging as the most advanced tool for edge plasma modelling, can be instructed to mimic SOLPS5.0 physics/numerics. This allows producing a detailed comparison of the two codes, in a framework where they are expected to produce the similar results, thus raising the confidence in using SOLPS-ITER to continue SOLPS5.0 simulations. Under such framework, SOLPS-ITER results match well with those of SOLPS5.0. The remaining differences might be from the ion energy source, and a full benchmark activity is expected to solve this in the future. We then test the effect of the recommended physics/numerics introduced in SOLPS-ITER with respect to the widely used SOLPS5.0. Only deuterium shots are considered as the basic test, where the recommended physics/numerics are simple and expected not to change the simulation results significantly. Electron density and temperature on divertor targets are the key metrics in this study, instead of particle fluxes and power load. Numerical simulations show that the effect of the recommended physics/numerics on the final solution results in only ∼5% differences in the outer mid-plane and target profiles of electron density and temperature. An upstream density scan, covering the full range from attached to detached conditions, also produces closely matching results (∼10% differences). Thus, we believe that recommended physics/numerics do not introduce unwanted spurious effects and are confident about future modelling results of SOLPS-ITER.     

Bias-tunable electron transport properties in a nanostructure with two parallel-magnetic barriers

In this paper, the spin-dependent electron transport is studied in detail in a nanostructure under an applied bias and two parallel-magnetic barriers. We find that the large spin polarization can be achieved in such a device, and the degree of electron-spin polarization strongly depends on the applied bias. These interesting properties may provide an alternative scheme to spin-polarize electrons into semiconductors, and this device may be used as a bias-tunable spin filter.     

Impact of drifts in the ASDEX upgrade upper open divertor using SOLPS-ITER

SOLPS-ITER L-mode-like simulations with the full set of currents and drift velocities activated, and fluid neutrals have been carried out to interpret experimental results obtained in AUG. Drifts are critical to quantitatively reproduce the experimental results; however, simulations without drifts can also reproduce some trends qualitatively. The magnitude and dependence of the peak heat flux onto both targets on the upstream collisionality are, in general, in quantitative agreement within uncertainties with infrared thermography measurements in favourable field direction. The onset of power detachment is observed. In unfavourable toroidal field direction, a more symmetrical inner/outer target solution with regards to the power distribution is predicted, in agreement with experimental observations. However, also in unfavourable toroidal field direction, insufficient power is dissipated in the simulations and therefore q_{peak, inn} is overpredicted by up to a factor of 4 and q_{peak, out} by up to a factor of 1.5. The largest contribution to the sources due to radial transport in the energy balance equation is the radial divergence of the energy flux due to V_{E × B}.     

Stability of tokamak plasmas with internal transport barriers against high n ideal magnetohydrodynamic ballooning mode

A ballooning mode equation for tokamak plasma, with the toroidicity and the Shafranov shift effects included, is derived for a shift circular flux tokamak configuration. Using this equation, the stability of the plasma configuration with an internal transport barrier （ITB） against the high n （the toroidal mode number） ideal magnetohydrodynamic （MHD） ballooning mode is analysed. It is shown that both the toroidicity and the Shaftanov shift effects are stabilizing. In the ITB region, these effects give rise to a low shear stable channel between the first and the second stability regions. Out of the ITB region towards the plasma edge, the stabilizing effect of the Shaftanov shift causes the unstable zone to be significantly narrowed.     

Spin-dependent transport for a two-dimensional electron gas with magnetic barriers

The spin-dependent conductance and magnetoresistance ratio (MRR) for a semiconductor heterostructures consisting of two magnetic barriers with different height and space have been investigated by the transfer-matrix method. It is shown that the splitting of the conductance for parallel and antiparallel magnetization configurations results in tremendous spin-dependent MRR, and the maximal MRRs reach 5300\% and 3800\% for the magnetic barrier spaces W=81.3 and 243.9~nm, respectively. The obtained spin-filtering transport property of nanostructures with magnetic barriers may be useful to magnetic-barrier-based spintronics.     

Impact of fast vertical and radial plasma movement on type-I ELMs in ASDEX upgrade

For the ITER project it is clear that steps have to be taken in order to avoid or mitigate type-I ELMs when operating in the standard H-mode scenario. Otherwise, divertor power loads induced by intrinsic ELMs will result in an intolerably short divertor life time. Amongst others, “magnetic triggering” based on a fast vertical movement of the plasma column has proven its ability to achieve ELM frequency control and hence mitigation by locking the ELM frequency to the imposed motion. Here, we report on an attempt to widen this approach by applying a cyclic radial plasma shift. Although motional cycle amplitudes sufficient for ELM frequency locking were achieved even easier than in the vertical case, no ELM control was established for the radial case. Analysis of this different behaviour can allow for better insight into underlying ELM release mechanisms and might potentially be a useful tool for mapping out ELM stability boundaries. Presented at the Workshop “Electric Fields, Structures and Relaxation in Edge Plasmas”, Roma, Italy, June 26–27, 2006.     

Enhancement of the stabilization efficiency of a neoclassical magnetic island by modulated electron cyclotron current drive in the ASDEX upgrade tokamak

The efficiency of generating a helical current in magnetic islands for the purpose of suppression of neoclassical tearing modes (NTMs) by electron cyclotron current drive (ECCD) is studied experimentally in the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak. It is found that the efficiency of generating helical current by continuous current drive in a rotating island drops drastically as the width 2d of the co-ECCD driven current becomes larger than the island width W. However, by modulating the co-ECCD in phase with the rotating islands O point, the efficiency can be recovered. The results are in good agreement with theoretical calculations taking into account the equilibration of the externally driven current on the island flux surfaces. The result is especially important for large next-step fusion devices, such as ITER, where 2d>W is expected to be unavoidable during NTM suppression, suggesting that modulation capability should be foreseen.     

The electron transport characters in a nanostructure with the periodic magnetic-electric barriers

This paper detailedly studies the transmission probability, the spin polarization and the conductance of the ballistic electron in a nanostructure with the periodic magnetic-electric barriers. These observable quantities are found to be strongly dependent not only on the magnetic configuration, the incident electron energy and the incident wave vector, but also on the number of the periodic magnetic-electric barriers. The transmission coefficient and the spin polarization show a periodic pattern with the increase of the separation between two adjacent magnetic fields, and the resonance splitting increases as the number of periods increases. Surprisingly, it is found that a polarization can be achieved by spin-dependent resonant tunnelling in this structure, although the average magnetic field of the structure is zero.     

The electron transport characters in a nanostructure with the periodic magnetic-electric barriers

This paper detailedly studies the transmission probability, the spin polarization and the conductance of the ballistic electron in a nanostrueture with the periodic magnetic-electric barriers These observable quantities are found to be strongly dependent not only on the magnetic configuration, the incident electron energy and the incident wave vector, but also on the number of the periodic magnetic-electric barriers The transmission coefficient and the spin polarization show a periodic pattern with the increase of the separation between two adjacent magnetic fields, and the resonance splitting increases as the number of periods increases. Surprisingly, it is found that a polarization can be achieved by spin-dependent resonant tunnelling in this structure, although the average magnetic field of the structure is zero.     

On electron and ion temperatures in the perturbed upper atmosphere

Based on Milston Hill incoherent scatter radar data, the behavior of the electron and ion plasma temperatures in the ionosphere F layer and the correlation of these parameters with the plasma drift are briefly discussed. Using this analysis, an attempt is made to evaluate a role of the longituainal currents in the thermal processes taking place in the perturbated upper atmosphere, is made.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Radiofizika, Vol. 39, No. 3, pp. 390–396, March, 1996.     

Dynamic modeling of stepwise internal transport barrier formation in DIII-D negative-central-shear discharges

The GLF23 transport model is used to dynamically follow bifurcations in the energy and toroidal momentum confinement in DIII-D discharges with an internal transport barrier. The temperatures and toroidal velocity profiles are evolved while self-consistently computing the effects of E x B shear stabilization during the formation and expansion of internal transport barriers. The barrier is predicted to form in a stepwise fashion through a series of sudden jumps in the core-electron and ion temperatures and toroidal rotation velocity. These results are consistent with experimental observations. In the simulations, the step transitions are a direct result of local E x B driven transport bifurcations.     

Convective transport suppression in the scrape-off layer using ion cyclotron resonance heating on the ASDEX Upgrade Tokamak

Turbulence properties in the scrape-off layer (SOL) in the presence of ion cyclotron frequency heating (ICRH) are compared to instances where it is absent. The discharges are all in a high-confinement mode (H-mode) regime. During ICRH, the SOL plasma density increases whereas turbulence large-scale and convective structures are shown to be suppressed. The probability distribution function is thus recorded to be closer to a Gaussian, and a net decrease in the low-frequency density fluctuations is reflected in the power spectra. Consequently, the level of turbulent fluctuations decreases significantly. Turbulence suppression is also reported during edge localized modes (ELMs) where both the ELMs-induced transport and duration are strongly affected. The increase of neutrals by gas puffing did not alter this behavior. We deduce that ICRH can be used as to suppress convective transport and reduce the ELM's amplitude.     

Inter-ELM power decay length for JET and ASDEX upgrade: measurement and comparison with heuristic drift-based model

Experimental measurements of the SOL power decay length (λ(q)) estimated from analysis of fully attached divertor heat load profiles from two tokamaks, JET and ASDEX Upgrade, are presented. Data was measured by means of infrared thermography. An empirical scaling reveals parametric dependency λ(q) in mm = 0.73B(T)(-0.78)q(cyl)(1.2)P(SOL)(0.1)R(geo)(0), where B(T)(T) describes the toroidal magnetic field, q(cyl) the cylindrical safety factor, P(SOL)(MW) the power crossing the separatrix and R(geo)(m) the major radius of the device. A comparison of these measurements to a heuristic particle drift-based model shows satisfactory agreement in both absolute magnitude and scaling. Extrapolation to ITER gives λ(q) ? 1 mm.