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In all major confinement devices (tokamaks, stellarators, spheromaks and reversed-field pinches-RFPs), a density limit has been found. Results summarized in a recent work by Puiatti et al (2009 Nucl. Fusion 49 045012) show that in the RFP high density does not cause a disruption, but a sequence of increasingly critical phenomena. First, at intermediate density there is the disappearance of the high-confinement quasisingle helicity/single helical axis regimes. Then, at densities close to the Greenwald limit, toroidally and radially localized density accumulation and radiation condensation are observed, together with a fast resistive decay of the plasma current, which constitutes the real operative limit of the device. In this paper we discuss the effect of the magnetic ripple on test particle motion, showing that the accumulation of electrons in the X-points of the edge m = 0 islands is responsible for a modulation of the radial electric field E(r) which is at the core of the density limit mechanism. These results can be also relevant for the explanation of X-point multifaceted asymmetric radiation from the edge formation, observed in L-mode density limit discharges of JET.

Recent JET experiments have been devoted to the study of ((3)He)-D plasmas involving radio frequency (RF) heating. This paper starts by discussing the RF heating efficiency theoretically expected in such plasmas, covering both relevant aspects of wave and of particle dynamics. Then it gives a concise summary of the main conclusions drawn from recent experiments that were either focusing on studying RF heating physics aspects or that were adopting RF heating as a tool to study plasma behavior. Depending on the minority concentration chosen, different physical phenomena are observed. At very low concentration (X[(3)He] < 1%), energetic tails are formed which trigger MHD activity and result in loss of fast particles. Alfven cascades were observed and gamma ray tomography indirectly shows the impact of sawtooth crashes on the fast particle orbits. Low concentration (X[(3)He] < 10%) favors minority heating while for X[(3)He] >> 10% electron mode conversion damping becomes dominant. Evidence for the Fuchs et al standing wave effect (Fuchs et al 1995 Phys. Plasmas 2 1637-47) on the absorption is presented. RF induced deuterium tails were observed in mode conversion experiments with large X[(3)He] (approximate to 18%). As tentative modeling shows, the formation of these tails can be explained as a consequence of wave power absorption by neutral beam particles that efficiently interact with the waves well away from the cold D cyclotron resonance position as a result of their substantial Doppler shift. As both ion and electron RF power deposition profiles in ((3)He)-D plasmas are fairly narrow-giving rise to localized heat sources-the RF heating method is an ideal tool for performing transport studies. Various of the experiments discussed here were done in plasmas with internal transport barriers (ITBs). ITBs are identified as regions with locally reduced diffusivity, where poloidal spinning up of the plasma is observed. The present know-how on the role of RF heating for impurity transport is also briefly summarized.

Impurity accumulation has been observed in many tokamak plasma experiments and predicted by collisional transport theory. However in most experimental cases observed transport departs from the collisional predictions ('anomalous transport'), admittedly due to turbulent effects. Diffusion is used as a criterion to assess the relative contributions of collisions and turbulence to observed impurity transport in the published literature. In the ITER relevant confinement modes (H-mode and internal transport barrier scenarios) turbulence always contributes but with large variations. The predicted parametric dependences of impurity transport are reviewed when available. Information on turbulent diffusion is scarce. Predicted collisional and turbulent convection velocities can be directed either inwards or outwards. The collisional predictions match satisfactorily a number of observations. Theoretical predictions of the turbulent convection velocity including recent quasilinear gyrokinetic results are in qualitative agreement with a dedicated experiment. This is only a first step toward a complete validation of the turbulent impurity convection theoretical models and predictive modelling of impurity transport in tokamaks.

Impurity transport during FTU electron internal transport barrier (ITB) discharges has been studied by means of a one-dimensional time dependent transport model to reproduce plasma line and continuum emissions. The impurity behaviour has been explored in two different experimental frames in which the formation and maintenance of an ITB is obtained in FTU. In the first scenario the lower hybrid and electron cyclotron resonance heating waves are launched during the current (Ip) flat-top phase, while in the second scenario the RF power is injected early during the Ip ramp-up phase. A diffusion coefficient enhanced inside the barrier, by a factor of 10, and an inward pinch velocity linearly increasing with the radius up to 3.5 m s-1, as found in the Ohmic case, are necessary to reproduce FTU plasma emission in the first scenario. A diffusion coefficient lowered inside the barrier (by a factor of 2) and about the same inward pinch velocity (v(a) = 5 m s-1 in this case) have to be assumed to interpret the impurity behaviour if the RF power is injected during the Ip ramp-up phase. These diffusion coefficient profiles are similar to the ion thermal diffusivity profiles predicted by the JETTO code: an improved electron thermal conductivity at the centre but degraded ion thermal conductivity is predicted for the flat-top ITB case, while improved electron thermal conductivity in the centre with a slightly improved ion diffusion inside the barrier results in the ramp-up ITB.