Electron-Bernstein-wave current drive in an overdense plasma at the Wendelstein 7-AS stellarator

Electron-Bernstein-wave (EBW) current drive in an overdense plasma was demonstrated at the Wendelstein 7-AS stellarator for the first time. The EBWs were generated by O-X-B mode conversion. The relatively high current drive efficiency was consistent with theoretical predictions. The experiments provided first investigations of EBW phase space interaction for wave refractive indices much larger than unity.     

Edge Turbulence During Limiter Biasing Experiments in the TJ-II Stellarator

The influence of limiter biasing on plasma confinement, turbulence and plasma flows has been investigated in the TJ-II stellarator. Experimental results show that it is possible to modify global particle confinement and edge plasma parameters with both positive and negative biasing. Significant and minor modifications in the structure of plasma fluctuations have been observed during the transition to improved confinement regimes induced by limiter biasing. These results show evidence of electric field induced improved confinement via multiple mechanisms. The investigation of the relaxation of plasma potential and electric fields shows evidence of two different characteristic decay times.     

Observation of Filamentary Structures on the Boundary Region of the LHD Stellarator

Large Helical Device (LHD) high β regime discharges are observed with a fast camera, with 〈β 〉 values up to almost 5%. High frequency sequences (20 µs between shots) of the density fluctuations in the edge region are obtained. Macroscopic coherent scructures, in the shape of “comet”‐like filaments can be seen in these sequences, propagating from the external ergodic region to the wall. These structures are analyzed and their radial and parallel transport is discussed. Strong relation between the generation of low frequency particle ejections and m/n= 2/3 edge mode is found. In the strike point region, “reflected” structures are observed as a response to ejected filaments. These are discussed in terms of plasma wall interaction phenomena (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Measurement of Electron Densities and Temperatures in the Plasma Boundary Combining Neutral Beam Probes and Laser-Induced Fluorescence

A new diagnostic method using both techniques of neutral beam probing and laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) is proposed to measure electron density (1011-1013 cm-3) and electron temperature (1-100 eV) of a boundary layer plasma in devices like tokamaks. The local electron density can be obtained by measuring the photon flux of the resonance line produced by electron impact excitation of an injected neutral Li-beam which is produced by laser-induced evaporation (LIE). The density of the neutral Li-beam which is necessary for the determination of the electron density is measured by LIF. The local electron temperature can be obtained by determining the attenuation of two neutral beams (Li, and Al or Ti) produced by LIE, of which the measurements are carried out by means of LIF. The applicability of this method to the TEXTOR tokamak is discussed in detail.     

The Visible Intensified Cameras for Plasma Imaging in the TJ‐II Stellarator

Visible cameras are widely used in fusion experiments for diagnosis and for machine safety issues. They are generally used to monitor the plasma emission, but are also sensible to surface Blackbody radiation and Bremsstrahlung. Fast or high speed cameras capable of operating in the 10⁵ frames per second speed range are today commercially available and offer the opportunity to plasma fusion researchers of two‐dimensional (2D) imaging of fast phenomena such as turbulence, ELMs, disruptions, dust, etc. The tracking of these fast phenomena requires short exposure times down to the μ s range and the light intensity can be often near the signal to noise ratio limit especially in low plasma emission regions such as the far SOL Additionally, when using interference filters to monitor, e.g. impurity line emission, the photon flux is strongly reduced and the emission cannot be imaged at high speed. Therefore, the use of image intensifiers that amplify the light intensity onto the camera sensor can be of great help. The present work describes the use of intensifiers in the visible fast cameras of TJ‐II stellarator. We have achieved spectroscopic plasma imaging of filtered impurity atomic line emission at short exposure times down to the 10 μ s range depending on atomic line and concentration. Additionally, plasma movies at velocities of 2x10⁵ frames per second near the camera operation limit can be recorded with exposure times well below 1 μ s with sufficient signal to noise ratio. Although an increasing degradation of the image quality appears when raising the light amplification, an effective gain of up to two orders of magnitude of the light intensity is feasible for many applications (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

A Study of the Near-Wall Plasma of the Globus-M Tokamak Using an Array of Divertor Langmuir Probes

Technical Physics - An array of ten built-in divertor probes was installed on the lower dome of the Globus-M spherical tokamak. It was used to measure the profiles of the floating potential,...     

Control of the Laminar-Turbulent Transition in a Three-Dimensional Boundary Layer under Elevated External Turbulence Using Dielectric Barrier Discharge

Doklady Physics - The results of experimental study of the effect the dielectric barrier discharge (DBR) actuator on the laminar-turbulent transition in a three-dimensional boundary layer under the...     

Nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations of ion-temperature-gradient turbulence for the optimized Wendelstein 7-X stellarator

Ion-temperature-gradient turbulence constitutes a possibly dominant transport mechanism for optimized stellarators, in view of the effective suppression of neoclassical losses characterizing these devices. Nonlinear gyrokinetic simulation results for the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator [G. Grieger, in (IAEA, Vienna, 1991) Vol. 3, p. 525]-assuming an adiabatic electron response-are presented. Several fundamental features are discussed, including the role of zonal flows for turbulence saturation, the resulting flux-gradient relationship, and the coexistence of ion-temperature-gradient modes with trapped ion modes in the saturated state.     

光在超声速湍流边界层中的传输

采用数值方法分析超声速边界层流场对光传输的影响,并根据光波的变化对流场特征进行分析.用法福尔质量加权平均N-S方程及两方程湍流模型求解三维超声速平板湍流边界层流动;光在流场中的传输采用傍轴近似光波传输方程描述,用相屏法和快速傅里叶变换(FFT)技术求解.利用穿越流场的光波光强和相位的改变,直观分析光波畸变和流场的部分特征信息.     

Electromagnetic Forces on Plasma Particles in the Presence of Resonant and Nonresonant Plasma Turbulence

Nonlinear forces on plasma particles in the presence of a test nonresonant wave and resonant plasma wave turbulence are calculated. The important feature of the considered nonlinear effect is that the forces due to the nonresonant test wave act on the plasma particles in the absence of linear and nonlinear resonances between the wave and the particles. Although in a closed plasma-wave system the process is balanced by the quasilinear interaction between the plasma resonant turbulence and plasma particles (leading to nonstationarity and inhomogeneity of the system), in open systems the effect can be significant.     

Dust mode of carbon pellet ablation in the W7-AS stellarator

A new type of carbon pellet ablation in the high-density ion-heated plasma of the Wendelstein 7-AS stellarator is studied. In contrast to conventional ablation in the form of atoms or clusters, this type of ablation features the emission of small (micrometer) carbon particles from the surface of the pellet. The emission angles and velocities of such microparticles are determined. Their sizes are estimated with two methods. The experimental data are compared with theoretical predictions.     

Energy-confinement scaling for high-beta plasmas in the W7-AS stellarator

High-beta energy-confinement data are subjected to comparisons of scaling invariant, first-principles physical models. The models differ in the inclusion of basic equations indicating the nature of transport. The result for high-beta data of the W7-AS stellarator is that global transport is described best with a collisional high-beta model, which is different from previous outcomes for low-beta data. Model predictive calculations indicate the validation of energy-confinement prediction with respect to plasma beta and collisionality nu*. The finding of different transport behaviors in distinct beta regimes is important for the development of fusion energy based on magnetic confinement and for the assessment of different confinement concepts.     

不同湍流模型对热等离子体射流模拟的影响

本文应用大气压等离子体射流传热与流动的三维数学模型,在相同初始条件下,计算得到了采用不同湍流模型时氩等离子体射流对称轴线上的温度、速度及空气质量分数分布,并与文献中同等条件下的实验结果进行了比较,结果表明采用标准κ-ε模型和Realizableκ-ε模型时与实验结果相差较大,而采用RNGκ-ε湍流模型时模拟结果与实验数...     

Turbulence Modulations in the Boundary Layer of a Horizontal Particle-Laden Channel Flow

Turbulence modulations are experimentally investigated using particle image velocimetry （PIV） in the lower boundary layer of a fully developed horizontal channel flow. A simultaneous two-phase PIV measurement technique is adopted to acquire the turbulent statistics quantities and to examine the coherent structures in the near-wall region. Polythene beads with diameters of 60 μm are used as dispersed phases, and the PIV measurements have been performed at three mass loadings varying from 2.5 ×10^-4 to 5 × 10^-3. All the experiments are performed at a wall shear Reynolds number of Reτ = 430. The results show that the presence of the particles suppresses the coherent structures, with shorter streamwise extent of the quasistrearnwise structures, and then, the wall-normal velocity fluctuations and shear Reynolds stresses are both decreased in the near-core region. In addition, as a result of the particle wake, the turbulence intensity and shear Reynolds stress both increase in the vicinity of the wall. Due to the drag effects of the particles on the gas, the streamwise velocity gradients decrease in the outer region and increase in the viscous sublayer, meanwhile the thickness of the viscous sublayer also decreases. These results cause the peak values of the streamwise velocity fluctuations adjacent to the wall to increase, and the peak positions shift to the wall. This is the reason for decreasing the near-wall region and increasing the near-core region of the streamwise velocity fluctuations in appearance.     

PIC Simulation of the Motion of Plasma around Ion Sensitive Probes

The current‐voltage characteristics, the structure of electric potential around an ion sensitive probe and the particle flux on the ion collector have been simulated by the two dimensional particle‐in‐cell code (Berkeley Code). Concerning the separate mechanism of ions and electrons on the probe, the importance of electric potential profile around the electrode was pointed out. It was found that the E × B drift motion of electrons moving along the equipotential surface plays an essential role in the ISP measurement.