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Recently, experiments on basic plasma physics issues for solving future problems in fusion energy have been performed on a Large Helical Device. There are several problems to be solved in future devices for fusion energy. Emerging issues in burning plasma are: alpha-channeling (ion heating by alpha particles), turbulence and transport in electron dominant heating helium ash exhaust, reduction of the divertor heat load. To solve these problems, understanding the basic plasma physics of (1) wave–particle interaction through (inverse) Landau damping, (2) characteristics of electron-scale (high- k ) turbulence, (3) ion mixing and the isotope effect, and (4) turbulence spreading and detachment, is necessary. This overview discusses the experimental studies on these issues and turbulent transport in multi-ion plasma and other issues in the appendix.

A remarkable extension of the high-ion-temperature (high-Ti) regime was obtained in deuterium plasma experiments in the Large Helical Device. In order to clarify transport characteristics in the ion internal transport barrier (ITB) formation with an isotope effect, a dataset of pure deuterium (nD/ne  >  0.8) and pure hydrogen (nH/ne  >  0.8) plasmas in the high-Ti regime were analyzed, and two mechanisms of transport improvement were characterized. A significant reduction of ion heat transport in the core of both deuterium and hydrogen plasmas was observed, indicating ion ITB formation. The dependence of the ion heat diffusivity on temperature ratio (Te/Ti) and normalized Ti-gradient (R/LTi  =  −(R/Ti)(dTi/dr)) was investigated in the core region, in which gyrokinetic simulations with the GKV code predict the destabilization of ion temperature gradient (ITG) modes. The Te/Ti dependence shows ITG-like property, while a significant deviation from the ITG-like property is found in the R/ dependence, indicating suppression of the ITG mode in the large R/ regime and resultant ion ITB formation. In the comparison between deuterium plasma and hydrogen plasma, the lower transport in the deuterium plasma is observed in both ion and electron heat diffusivities, indicating a significant isotope effect. It was found with the nonlinear turbulent transport simulation with GKV that the zonal flow enhancement contributes to the ITG suppression in the deuterium plasma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conceptual design of a compact large helical device (LHD)-type helical fusion reactor FFHR-c1 has been conducted. This design focuses on a year-long electric power generation with as small a reactor size as possible by adopting the operation with auxiliary heating and innovative ideas for the design of the superconducting magnet, divertor and blanket system. The primary design parameters, which have been selected by extrapolation from the previous design FFHR-d1B using simple scalings, has been examined by the systems code and the 1D integrated physics analysis code from the viewpoint of plant power balance and the achievable plasma operation regime. The design feasibility of the proposed design point has been confirmed with the physics parameters that are consistent with the LHD experiment. Further improvement of the plasma performance is expected by the optimisation of the helical coil winding law. Although intensive R&D is needed to realise the innovative ideas of the engineering design, this design ensures the path to helical commercial power plants and provides more options and increases the probability of solving critical issues of fusion reactors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The integrated framework consisting of TOPICS, VMEC and FORTEC-3D, has been applied to provide an estimate of the neoclassical toroidal viscosity (NTV) produced by the applied magnetic perturbations (MPs). Six picture-frame error field correction coils in each row in JT-60SA realize the various patterns of the applied magnetic field spectrum. The NTV is investigated for various toroidal phase differences. As long as the same coil current is applied, the n  =  3 MPs generate the same NTV, regardless of even or odd parity, or energizing the middle coils or not. The n  =  1 MPs give rise to larger NTV than the n  =  3 ones. The NTV invoked by the n  =  1 resonant MPs is virtually equivalent to that by the n  =  1 nonresonant MPs with five-fold coil current. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low collisionality stellarator plasmas usually display a large negative radial electric field that has been expected to cause accumulation of impurities due to their high charge number. In this paper, two combined effects that can potentially modify this scenario are discussed. First, it is shown that, in low collisionality plasmas, the kinetic contribution of the electrons to the radial electric field can make it negative but small, bringing the plasma close to impurity temperature screening (i.e., to a situation in which the ion temperature gradient is the main drive of impurity transport and causes outward flux); in plasmas of very low collisionality, such as those of the large helical device displaying impurity hole (Ida et al (The LHD Experimental Group) 2009 Phys. Plasmas16 056111; Yoshinuma et al (The LHD Experimental Group) 2009 Nucl. Fusion49 062002), screening may actually occur. Second, the component of the electric field that is tangent to the flux surface (in other words, the variation of the electrostatic potential on the flux surface), although smaller than the radial component, has recently been suggested to be an additional relevant drive for radial impurity transport. Here, it is explained that, especially when the radial electric field is small, the tangential magnetic drift has to be kept in order to correctly compute the tangential electric field, that can be larger than previously expected. This can have a strong impact on impurity transport, as we illustrate by means of simulations using the newly developed code kinetic orbit-averaging-solver for stellarators, although it is not enough to explain by itself the behavior of the fluxes in situations like the impurity hole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrated physics analysis of plasma operation scenario of the compact helical reactor FFHR-c1 has been conducted. The DPE method, which predicts radial profiles in a reactor by direct extrapolation from the reference experimental data, has been extended to implement the equipartition effect. Close investigation of the plasma operation regime has been conducted and a candidate plasma operation point of FFHR-c1 has been identified within the parameter regime that has already been confirmed in LHD experiment in view of MHD equilibrium, MHD stability and neoclassical transport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The integrated transport analysis suite, TASK3D-a (Analysis), has been developed to be capable for routine whole-discharge analyses of plasmas confined in three-dimensional (3D) magnetic configurations such as the LHD. The routine dynamic energy balance analysis for NBI-heated plasmas was made possible in the first version released in September 2012. The suite has been further extended through implementing additional modules for neoclassical transport and ECH deposition for 3D configurations. A module has also been added for creating systematic data for the International Stellarator–Heliotron Confinement and Profile Database. Improvement of neutral beam injection modules for multiple-ion species plasmas and loose coupling with a large-simulation code are also highlights of recent developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Capabilities of the integrated framework consisting of TOPICS, OFMC, VMEC and FORTEC-3D, have been extended to calculate toroidal rotation in fully non-axisymmetric perturbed magnetic fields for demonstrating operation scenarios in actual tokamak geometry and conditions. The toroidally localized perturbed fields due to the test blanket modules and the tangential neutral beam ports in ITER augment the neoclassical toroidal viscosity (NTV) substantially, while do not significantly influence losses of beam ions and alpha particles in an ITER L-mode discharge. The NTV takes up a large portion of total torque in ITER and fairly decelerates toroidal rotation, but the change in toroidal rotation may have limited effectiveness against turbulent heat transport. The error field correction coils installed in JT-60SA can externally apply the perturbed fields, which may alter the NTV and the resultant toroidal rotation profiles. However, the non-resonant components of the magnetic fields arising from the toroidal field ripple mainly contribute to the NTV, regardless of the presence of the applied field by the coil current of , where n is the toroidal mode number. The theoretical model of the intrinsic torque due to the fluctuation-induced residual stress is calibrated by the JT-60U data. For five JT-60U discharges, the sign of the calibration factor conformed to the gyrokinetic linear stability analysis and a range of the amplitude thereof was revealed. This semi-empirical approach opens up access to an attempt on predicting toroidal rotation in H-mode plasmas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have investigated drift-wave instability and nonlinear turbulent transport in two configurations with different magnetic field structures by means of electromagnetic gyrokinetic simulations. Here, one is the neoclassically optimized Large Helical Device (LHD) plasma and the other is the Heliotron J (HJ) plasma. First, we show that the validation against the turbulent transport in the LHD plasma is successful, and that the neoclassically optimized configuration has smaller turbulent transport. Second, the neoclassical optimization through an enhanced toroidal mirror ratio, which is a capability of non-axisymmetric plasma, is found to improve the turbulent transport in the HJ plasma, which is qualitatively consistent with the observation in the HJ. Hence, the neoclassical optimization reduces the turbulent transport in both the LHD and HJ plasmas. Third, as a trial in evaluating the performance of a helical system designed with different concepts for stability, we compared turbulent transport in these plasmas and found that both the mixing-length-estimated diffusion and nonlinear turbulent transport of the HJ plasma are smaller than those of the LHD plasma in gyro-Bohm units. The significant difference is stronger zonal flows in the HJ plasma than in the LHD plasma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transport studies of pellet fuelling experiments on LHD are reported. Spatio-temporal evolutions after pellet injection into LHD discharges show cases where central density increases on the time scale of particle transport processes. Both the temperature gradient and the density gradient change during the density relaxation, the latter even in sign. The resulting thermodynamic forces influence radial electric fields—both as a driving term but also by, e.g. affecting the Er dependence of ion transport. Magnetic fluctuations have been found to be induced by pellet injection but die out with the relaxation of the pressure profile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study closely investigates the plasma operation scenario for the LHD-type helical reactor FFHR-d1 in view of MHD equilibrium/stability, neoclassical transport, alpha energy loss and impurity effect. In 1D calculation code that reproduces the typical pellet discharges in LHD experiments, we identify a self-consistent solution of the plasma operation scenario which achieves steady-state sustainment of the burning plasma with a fusion gain of Q ~ 10 was found within the operation regime that has been already confirmed in LHD experiment. The developed calculation tool enables systematic analysis of the operation regime in real time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving impurity and helium ash control is a crucial issue in the path towards fusion-grade magnetic confinement devices, and this is particularly the case of helical reactors, whose low-collisionality ion-root operation scenarios usually display a negative radial electric field which is expected to cause inwards impurity pinch. In this work we discuss, based on experimental measurements and standard predictions of neoclassical theory, how plasmas of very low ion collisionality, similar to those observed in the impurity hole of the large helical device (Yoshinuma et al and The LHD Experimental Group 2009 Nucl. Fusion49 062002, Ida et al and The LHD Experimental Group 2009 Phys. Plasmas16 056111 and Yokoyama et al and LHD Experimental Group 2002 Nucl. Fusion42 143), can be an exception to this general rule, and how a negative radial electric field can coexist with an outward impurity flux. This interpretation is supported by comparison with documented discharges available in the International Stellarator-Heliotron Profile Database, and it can be extrapolated to show that achievement of high ion temperature in the core of helical devices is not fundamentally incompatible with low core impurity content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study radial particle transport in stellarator plasmas using cryogenic pellet injection. By means of perturbative experiments, we estimate the experimental particle flux and compare it with neoclassical simulations. Experimental evidence is obtained of the fact that core depletion in helical devices can be slowed-down even by pellets that do not reach the core region. This phenomenon is well captured by neoclassical predictions with DKES and FORTEC-3D. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An analysis of the radial electric field and heat transport, both for ions and electrons, is presented for a high- electron cyclotron heated (ECH) discharge on the large helical device (LHD). Transport analysis is done using the task3d transport suite utilizing experimentally measured profiles for both ions and electrons. Ion temperature and perpendicular flow profiles are measured using the recently installed x-ray imaging crystal spectrometer diagnostic (XICS), while electron temperature and density profiles are measured using Thomson scattering. The analysis also includes calculated ECH power deposition profiles as determined through the travis ray-tracing code. This is the first time on LHD that this type of integrated transport analysis with measured ion temperature profiles has been performed without NBI, allowing the heat transport properties of plasmas with only ECH heating to be more clearly examined. For this study, a plasma discharge is chosen which develops a high central electron temperature ( keV) at moderately low densities ( m−3). The experimentally determined transport properties from task3d are compared to neoclassical predictions as calculated by the gsrake and fortec-3d codes. The predicted electron fluxes are seen to be an order of magnitude less than the measured fluxes, indicating that electron transport is largely anomalous, while the neoclassical and measured ion heat fluxes are of the same magnitude. Neoclassical predictions of a strong positive ambipolar electric field () in the plasma core are validated through comparisons to perpendicular flow measurements from the XICS diagnostic. This provides confidence that the predictions are producing physically meaningful results for the particle fluxes and radial electric field, which are a key component in correctly predicting plasma confinement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The integrated simulation framework for toroidal momentum transport is developed, which self-consistently calculates the neoclassical toroidal viscosity (NTV), the radial electric field and the resultant toroidal rotation together with the scrape-off-layer (SOL) physics-based boundary model. The coupling of three codes, the 1.5D transport code TOPICS, the three-dimensional (3D) equilibrium code VMEC and the 3D drift-kinetic equation solver FORTEC-3D, makes it possible to calculate the NTV due to the non-axisymmetric perturbed magnetic field caused by toroidal field coils. Analyses reveal that the NTV significantly influences in JT-60U and holds the key to determine the NTV profile. The sensitivity of the profile to the boundary rotation necessitates a boundary condition modelling for toroidal momentum. Owing to the high-resolution measurement system in JT-60U, the gradient is found to be virtually zero at the separatrix regardless of toroidal rotation velocities. Focusing on , the boundary model of toroidal momentum is developed in conjunction with the SOL/divertor plasma code D5PM. This modelling realizes self-consistent predictive simulations for operation scenario development in ITER. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The magnetic island in the large helical device (LHD) shows the dynamic behaviour of the healing/growth transition with the hysteretic behaviour. The thresholds of plasma beta and poloidal flow for island healing are larger than that for growth. The threshold of resonant magnetic perturbation (RMP) for healing is smaller than that for growth. Furthermore, thresholds of the amplitude of RMP depend on the magnetic axis position Rax in the LHD. The RMP threshold increases as the magnetic axis position Rax increases. The poloidal viscosity may be considered as a candidate to explain the experimental observation from the viewpoint of the relationship between the electromagnetic torque and the viscous torque. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1D physics analysis of the plasma start-up scenario of the large helical device (LHD)-type helical reactor FFHR-d1 was conducted. The time evolution of the plasma profile is calculated using a simple model based on the LHD experimental observations. A detailed assessment of the magnetohydrodynamic equilibrium and neo-classical energy loss was conducted using the integrated transport analysis code TASK3D. The robust controllability of the fusion power was confirmed by feedback control of the pellet fuelling and a simple staged variation of the external heating power with a small number of simple diagnostics (line-averaged electron density, edge electron density and fusion power). A baseline operation control scenario (plasma start-up and steady-state sustainment) of the FFHR-d1 reactor for both self-ignition and sub-ignition operation modes was demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A cooperation framework for analyses and predictions of the neoclassical toroidal viscosity (NTV) and the resultant toroidal flow is developed among the TOPICS, VMEC and FORTEC-3D codes. With the real geometry in JT-60U taken into account, it is found that the NTV is one of the cardinal torque sources especially in the edge region irrespective of the insertion of the ferritic steel tiles (FSTs) that reduce the toroidal field ripple amplitude and is essential to numerically reproduce the measured toroidal rotation profile in the edge. The up–down asymmetric component of the NTV is damped due to the FSTs and the NTV profile correlates with the profile of the radial electric field Er. Predictive simulations for JT-60SA H-mode scenarios are also performed to investigate the effects of the NTV on toroidal rotation. The NTV reversal is observed in the pedestal region where the steep pressure gradient is formed, due to the dependence of the NTV on Er. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]