Influence of peripheral radial electric field on L-H transition in T-10 tokamak

In this paper the peripheral plasma behaviour during and after L-H transition on the tokamak T-10 is considered. Abrupt changes of Scrape-Off Layer (SOL) plasma parameters (ion saturation current, floating potential, electron temperature) are observed in regimes with transition to the improved plasma confinement. Such changes begin (5–150) ms prior to the L-H transition. The time delay of a transition depends on auxiliary plasma heating powerP _aux and plasma currentI _p (at constant toroidal magnetic field inductionB _t). Presented at the Workshop on the Role of Electric Fields in Plasma Confinement and Exhaust, Budapest, 18–19 June, 2000. This work is supported by Ministry of Atomic Energy of Russia (contract 69F) and by Ministry of Science and Technology of Russia (Federal Program “Controlled Thermonuclear Fusion and Plasma Processes”).