Bifurcation phenomena of a magnetic island at a rational surface in a magnetic-shear control experiment

Three states of a magnetic island are observed when the magnetic shear at the rational surface is modified using inductive current associated with the neutral beam current drive in the Large Helical Device. One state is the healed magnetic island with a zero island width. The second state is the saturated magnetic island with partial flattening of the T(e) profile. The third state is characterized by the global flattening of the T(e) profile in the core region. As the plasma assumes each of the three states consecutively through a bifurcation process a clear hysteresis in the relation between the size of the magnetic island and the magnetic shear is observed.     

Observation of the "self-healing" of an error field island in the large helical device

It was observed that the vacuum magnetic island produced by an external error magnetic field in the large helical device shrank in the presence of plasma. This was evidenced by the disappearance of flat regions in the electron temperature profile obtained by Thomson scattering. This island behavior depended on the magnetic configuration in which the plasmas were produced.     

Low-threshold parametric decay instabilities in the experiments on the electron cyclotron resonance heating in tokamaks and stellarators

The experimental conditions have been analyzed for a significant reduction of the threshold of the reflective parametric decay instabilities under electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) of a plasma in magnetic devices in the absence of the upper hybrid resonance for the pump wave. The role of the nonmonotonic profile of the plasma density near the O point of the magnetic island, which allows for the localization of ion Bernstein waves in the direction of the density gradient and the suppression of convective losses from the decay region has been discussed. It has been shown that the threshold of the instability of the induced backscattering near the local maximum of the density profile is decreased by four orders of magnitude and is easily exceeded in present-day ECRH experiments at a power of several hundred kilowatts.     

Globally optimal superconducting magnets part II: symmetric MSE coil arrangement

A globally optimal superconducting magnet coil design procedure based on the Minimum Stored Energy (MSE) current density map is outlined. The method has the ability to arrange coils in a manner that generates a strong and homogeneous axial magnetic field over a predefined region, and ensures the stray field external to the assembly and peak magnetic field at the wires are in acceptable ranges. The outlined strategy of allocating coils within a given domain suggests that coils should be placed around the perimeter of the domain with adjacent coils possessing alternating winding directions for optimum performance. The underlying current density maps from which the coils themselves are derived are unique, and optimized to possess minimal stored energy. Therefore, the method produces magnet designs with the lowest possible overall stored energy. Optimal coil layouts are provided for unshielded and shielded short bore symmetric superconducting magnets.     

Internal transport barrier with ion-cyclotron-resonance minority heating on tore supra

Recently, reversed magnetic shear operation was performed using only ion-cyclotron-resonance frequency minority heating (ICRH) during current ramp-up. A wide region of reversed magnetic shear has been obtained. For the first time, an electron internal transport barrier sustained by ICRH is observed, with a dramatical drop of density fluctuations. This barrier was maintained, on the current flat top, for about 2 s.     

导体壳对电阻磁流体不稳定性的影响

结合HL-1装置的条件,采用撕裂模的准线性理论,研究了托克马克中导体壁对m=2/n=1扰动模的稳定作用。着重研究了导体壁位置,等离子体电流分布,等离子体位形对这种稳定效应的影响。结果表明,共振面的位置与壁的稳定作用有密切关系,存q_a接近于2的位形中,m=2的撕裂模扰动可以被靠近等离子体的导体壁完全抑制。导体壁的稳定效应与等离子体电流分布相联系,在一些现实的电流分布中,只要适当地压低等离子体边界区的电流密度,壁的稳定效应会更加显现出来。     

Suppression of Hall-term effects by gyroviscous cancellation in steady collisionless magnetic reconnection

The formation of an ion-dissipation region, in which motions of electrons and ions decouple and fast magnetic reconnection occurs, is demonstrated during a steady state of two-dimensional collisionless driven reconnection by means of full-particle simulations. The Hall-term effect is suppressed due to the gyroviscous cancellation at scales between the ion-skin depth and ion-meandering-orbit scale, and thus ions are tied to the magnetic field. The ion frozen-in constraint is strongly broken by nongyrotropic pressure tensor effects due to ion-meandering motion, and thus the ion-dissipation region is formed at scales below the ion-meandering-orbit scale. A similar process is observed in the formation of an electron-dissipation region. These two dissipation regions are clearly observed in an out-of-plane current density profile.     

Instationary Electric Fields,Ion Transport and Strong Density Fluctuations in Tokamaks with Dominant Anomalous Electron Transport

A common explanation is given for ion transport and strong broadband density fluctuations in tokamaks as a result of large anomalous electron transport near dominant magnetic surfaces (resp. in small magnetic islands). The main mechanism is local density flattening connected with an anomalous electron transport induced instationary radial electric field, which forces the ions via polarization drift to follow the electrons. For the density flattening process an exact solution of the time-dependent diffusion equation for a linear initial profile over the island width is used. From this we also derive an expression for a temporal growing radial electric field. This positive field reaches its maximum at the density plateau. Strong viscous diffusion or instability-induced transport between high and low electric field regions may now reverse the density flattening. Therefore relaxation oscillations result which may also explain the observed strong density and potential fluctuations in tokamaks. Several details of recent measurements of impurity ion behaviour and density fluctuations in tokamaks may be better explained with the theory given here.     

Tokamak equilibria with reversed current density

Observations of nearly zero toroidal current in the central region of tokamaks (the "current hole") raises the question of the existence of toroidal equilibria with very low or reversed current in the core. The solutions of the Grad-Shafranov equilibrium equation with hollow toroidal current density profile including negative current density in the plasma center are investigated. Solutions of the corresponding eigenvalue problem provide simple examples of such equilibrium configurations. More realistic equilibria with toroidal current density reversal are computed using a new equilibrium problem formulation and computational algorithm which do not assume nested magnetic surfaces.     

Lower Hybrid Heating of an Electron-Cyclotron-Resonance Plasma in a Canted Magnetic Mirror

Plasma heating at the lower hybrid resonance was studied experimentally in a canted magnetic mirror in order to determine the effects of magnetic field curvature on heating efficiency. Heating occurred mainly on what would be the "outside" of an equivalent torus, peaking near the hybrid resonant layer. The best conditions for heating were seen to be a relatively flat density profile of magnitude slightly below that where hybrid resonance would be expected. The density profile was seen to move "outward" as cant angle was increased, while the hybrid layers were seen to move oppositely, toward what would be the inside of the torus. No significant deleterious effects on the efficiency of the lower hybrid resonant heating (LHRH) were observed as the canting was changed.     

The Current Distribution and the Magnetic Pressure Profile in a Vacuum Arc Subject to an Axial Magnetic Field

The steady-state electric-current distribution and the magnetic pressure in a uniform conducting medium, flowing in a cylindrical configuration between two circular electrodes, was determined by solving the magnetic field transport equation with a superimposed axial magnetic field. This medium models the interelectrode plasma of the diffuse mode metal vapor vacuum arc. The results show the following. a) The electric current and the flux of the poloidal magnetic field are constricted at the anode side of the flowing plasma. Most of the constriction takes place within a boundary layer, with a characteristic length of 1/Rme, where Rme is the magnetic-Reynolds number for axial electron flow. b) The electric-current constriction inversely depends on K?, where K? is the azimuthal surface current density which produces the axial magnetic field. c) The magnetic-pressure profile shows a radial pinch force in most of the interelectrode region, but in the anode boundary layer it is axially directed, thus retarding the plasma flow. d) The peak of the magnetic pressure is at the anode, and its amplitude directly depends on K?. As K? increases, the peak location moves toward the anode center.     

Ramp-Up-Phase Current-Profile Control of Tokamak Plasmas via Nonlinear Programming

The achievement of suitable toroidal-current-density profiles in tokamak plasmas plays an important role in enabling high fusion gain and noninductive sustainment of the plasma current for steady-state operation with improved magnetohydrodynamic stability. The evolution in time of the current profile is related to the evolution of the poloidal magnetic flux, which is modeled in normalized cylindrical coordinates using a partial differential equation (PDE) usually referred to as the magnetic flux diffusion equation. The dynamics of the plasma current density profile can be modified by the total plasma current and the power of the noninductive current drive. These two actuators, which are constrained not only in value and rate but also in their initial and final values, are used to drive the current profile as close as possible to a desired target profile at a specific final time. To solve this constrained finite-time open-loop PDE optimal control problem, model reduction based on proper orthogonal decomposition is combined with sequential quadratic programming in an iterative fashion. The use of a low-dimensional dynamical model dramatically reduces the computational effort and, therefore, the time required to solve the optimization problem, which is critical for a potential implementation of a real-time receding-horizon control strategy.      

Observations of multiple magnetic islands in the core of a reversed field pinch

We describe in this Letter the first measurement of multiple islands in the core of a reversed field pinch (RFP). These islands appear with current profile modification leading to magnetic fluctuation reduction in the Madison symmetric torus RFP. Magnetic island widths decrease to an unprecedented level, reducing the overlap of adjacent islands and allowing distinct islands to appear. The structures are observed in multichord measurements of soft-x-ray emissivity. The soft-x-ray data is validated with Poincaré reconstructions of the magnetic field structure in the core.     

Electromagnetic response in kinetic energy driven cuprate superconductors: Linear response approach

Within the framework of the kinetic energy driven superconductivity, the electromagnetic response in cuprate superconductors is studied in the linear response approach. The kernel of the response function is evaluated and employed to calculate the local magnetic field profile, the magnetic field penetration depth, and the superfluid density, based on the specular reflection model for a purely transverse vector potential. It is shown that the low temperature magnetic field profile follows an exponential decay at the surface, while the magnetic field penetration depth depends linearly on temperature, except for the strong deviation from the linear characteristics at extremely low temperatures. The superfluid density is found to decrease linearly with decreasing doping concentration in the underdoped regime. The problem of gauge invariance is addressed and an approximation for the dressed current vertex, which does not violate local charge conservation is proposed and discussed.     

Current Structures with Magnetic Shear in Space Plasma

Observations of current structures with magnetic shear by the Cluster satellite quartet in the magnetotail and the Wind satellite in the solar wind have been reported. In current structures with magnetic shear, the following structural features have been identified: (i) thickening of a current layer, (ii) plasma density distribution asymmetric with respect to the layer plane, and (iii) formation of an asymmetric current density profile. The kinetic features of the dynamics of ions in current layers with initial shear deformation have been considered. A mechanism has been proposed for the formation of self-consistent current sheets with a nonzero shear magnetic field component.     

小磁岛转动引起的沿磁力线电流对撕裂模的影响

利用离子香蕉轨道中心坐标和香蕉轨道平均算符,讨论了磁岛转动引起的沿磁力线电流分布及其对新经典撕裂模演进的影响。结果显示,考虑此电流的影响,当磁岛旋转频率ω=ω_*i 时,被离子香蕉轨道宽度效应削弱的自举电流驱动项基本恢复;当ω=ω_*e时,离子香蕉轨道宽度效应对自举电流驱动项的削弱则加剧。这意味着磁岛转动方向不同时,此沿力线电流能显著增大或减弱离子香蕉轨道宽度效应对自举电流驱动项的削弱作用。     

脉冲充磁的超导圆盘的电流密度和俘获场分布的研究

本从第一性原理出发，计算了充磁线圈产生的磁场，脉冲充磁的超导圆盘中的感应电流密度和俘获场分布．以超导体中的电流运动方程为基础，通过磁通动力学方程E=Ec(J/Jc)^n和物质方程B=μ0H表示超导圆盘的超导特性．计算表明第一个脉冲充磁电流的峰值和磁通蠕动指数对于超导圆盘中的感应电流分布非常重要．同时研究了充磁电流的宽度，波形，第二个充磁电流的峰值和充磁线圈的形状对于俘获场的影响．计算表明不断减小脉冲充磁电流峰值的反复充磁可以保持超导圆盘中的感应电流密度的平台在一确定水平．     

Current Oscillation and dc-Voltage-Controlled Chaotic Dynamics in Semiconductor Superlattices

We report a detailed theoretical study of current oscillation and dc-voltage-controlled chaotic dynamics in doped GaAs/AlAs resonant tunneling superlattices under crossed electric and magnetic fields. When the superlattice is biased at the negative differential velocity region, current self-oscillation is observed with proper doping concentration. The current oscillation mode and oscillation frequency can be affected by the dc voltage bias, doping density, and magnetic field. When an ac electric field with fixed amplitude and frequency is also applied to the system, different nonlinear properties show up in the external circuit with the change of dc voltage bias. We carefully study these nonlinear properties with different chaos-detecting methods.     

基于光弹调制的运动斯塔克效应诊断

电流密度分布是等离子体物理研究的关键分布参数,在托卡马克先进运行模式发展,电流驱动,约束与输运等方面发挥着重要的作用。中性束与等离子体相互作用产生的分裂光谱,包括σ分量与π分量,水平观测时,σ分量的偏振方向垂直于等效电场的方向,π分量的偏振方向平行于等效电场的方向,通过测量分裂光谱的偏振方向可以反演出等离子体电流密度分布。基于光弹调制器的偏振检测系统具有检测精度高、时间响应迅速的独特优点,非常适用于等离子体电流快速变化下的电流密度分布测量。光弹调制器的双折射晶体在周期性外部驱动源的作用下发生弹性形变,其折射率会产生周期性的变化,当偏振光通过时,出射光的偏振特性将相应产生周期性变化,再经过偏振片,形成调制的光强变化。运动斯塔克效应(MSE)诊断的偏振检测系统由两个光弹调制器(PEM)和一个偏振片组成,通过检测不同调制频率的调制强度的比值,从而快速、精确地获得分裂光谱的偏振方向的实时变化,进而得到等离子体电流密度分布。详细介绍了东方超环托卡马克(EAST)装置上的MSE诊断,初步完成了离线测试与标定,参与中性束电流本文驱动物理实验,初步获得了等离子体电流密度分布的信息。