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We present a fully Bayesian approach for the inference of radial profiles of impurity transport coefficients and compare its results to neoclassical, gyrofluid and gyrokinetic modeling. Using nested sampling, the Bayesian Impurity Transport InferencE (BITE) framework can handle complex parameter spaces with multiple possible solutions, offering great advantages in interpretative power and reliability with respect to previously demonstrated methods. BITE employs a forward model based on the pySTRAHL package, built on the success of the well-known STRAHL code [Dux, IPP Report, 2004], to simulate impurity transport in magnetically-confined plasmas. In this paper, we focus on calcium (Ca, Z=20) Laser Blow-Off injections into Alcator C-Mod plasmas. Multiple Ca atomic lines are diagnosed via high-resolution X-ray Imaging Crystal Spectroscopy and Vacuum Ultra-Violet measurements. We analyze a sawtoothing I-mode discharge for which neoclassical and turbulent (quasilinear and nonlinear) predictions are also obtained. We find good agreement in diffusion across the entire radial extent, while turbulent convection and density profile peaking are estimated to be larger in experiment than suggested by theory. Efforts and challenges associated with the inference of experimental pedestal impurity transport are discussed., 38 pages, 19 figures, submitted for publication in Nuclear Fusion

X-ray transitions of the very high n Rydberg series in Ar^16+ have been observed from Alcator C-Mod tokamak plasmas. Individual emission lines up to 1s16p - 1s^2 have been resolved and the central chord line brightnesses with principal quantum number n between 7 and 16 are generally found to decay as 1/n^α, with α slightly larger than 3. In the plasma periphery, emission from 1s9p - 1s^2 and 1s10p - 1s^2 are found to be significantly enhanced relative to this decrease, indicative of selected population of these levels through charge exchange between background neutral deuterium in the ground state and Ar^17+. An unresolved feature between the wavelengths of 1s27p -1s^2 and 1s30p - 1s^2 is also present, which arises through charge exchange with neutral deuterium in the n* = 3 excited state. The brightnesses of transitions populated by charge exchange are spatially up/down asymmetric, with an excess on the side of the magnetic surface X-point. The relative brightness of the unresolved very high n feature compared to 1s7p - 1s^2 is found to increase with electron temperature and decrease with electron density. Simulations of line emission just on the long wavelength side of the Ar^16+ ionization limit indicate that the principal quantum number decay exponent is closer to α = 4 at very high n. The brightness dependence on n below 16 is in excellent agreement with calculations from the FAC package.

Emission lines which appear in the spectral ranges of ground state transitions from n = 2 levels in He- and H-like argon ions are discussed. X-ray transitions from elements commonly found in tokamaks (tungsten, molybdenum, iron and sulphur) which radiate in the wavelength range from 3700–4000 mÅ are identified by comparison with atomic structure calculations. Individual lines from tungsten charge states in the vicinity of Zn-like W44+ are documented, along with B-like Mo37+. The behaviour of line ratios as a function of electron temperature is examined, in support of the identifications.

Brightness profiles of x-ray emission from H-like Ar17+ exhibit a distinct up/down asymmetry under certain operating conditions in C-Mod plasmas, indicating that impurity densities are not constant on flux surfaces with r/a between ~0.8 and ~0.95. In L- and I-mode plasmas, there is an x-ray brightness excess, up to a factor of 8, on the side opposite to the ion B × B drift direction. This effect is not observed in H-mode plasmas, presumably due to edge impurity transport being dominated by a strong inward pinch, which is absent in L- and I-mode. The magnitude of the asymmetry in L- and I-mode decreases with increasing plasma current, similar to the observed decrease in radial impurity diffusivity. In I-mode, where the codependence between electron density and temperature can be broken with ICRF heating power, the asymmetry magnitude is found to decrease with increasing density and with increasing edge temperature at fixed density. These measurements exhibit some qualitative features of neo-classical expectations but the observed asymmetry magnitude is much larger than predicted and some scalings with plasma parameters are not seen. The up/down asymmetry appears to be largest when the cross field impurity diffusivity is the highest.

Author(s): Cao, NM; Rice, JE; Diamond, PH; White, AE; Baek, SG; Chilenski, MA; Hughes, JW; Irby, J; Reinke, ML; Rodriguez-Fernandez, P; Team, Alcator C-Mod

Author(s): Rice, JE; Hughes, JW; Diamond, PH; Cao, N; Chilenski, MA; Hubbard, AE; Irby, JH; Kosuga, Y; Lin, Y; Metcalf, IW; Reinke, ML; Tolman, EA; Victora, MM; Wolfe, SM; Wukitch, SJ