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In this work, the coupling among several MHD modes across different spatial regions, including the neoclassical tearing mode (NTM) and two branches of Alfvén eigenmode (AE) in the core and the edge localized mode (ELM), has been investigated in the HL-2A high beta H-mode plasmas. The NTMs induce a saturated m/n = 1/1 helical core (m and n are the poloidal and toroidal mode numbers, respectively) through the ‘magnetic-flux pumping’ effect. The ELM crash results in a rapid (

Since the last IAEA Fusion Energy Conference in 2018, significant progress of the experimental program of HL-2A has been achieved on developing advanced plasma physics, edge localized mode (ELM) control physics and technology. Optimization of plasma confinement has been performed. In particular, high-β N H-mode plasmas exhibiting an internal transport barrier have been obtained (normalized plasma pressure β N reached up to 3). Injection of impurity improved the plasma confinement. ELM control using resonance magnetic perturbation or impurity injection has been achieved in a wide parameter regime, including types I and III. In addition, impurity seeding with supersonic molecular beam injection or laser blow-off techniques has been successfully applied to actively control the plasma confinement and instabilities, as well as plasma disruption with the aid of disruption prediction. Disruption prediction algorithms based on deep learning are developed. A prediction accuracy of 96.8% can be reached by assembling a convolutional neural network. Furthermore, transport resulting from a wide variety of phenomena such as energetic particles and magnetic islands has been investigated. In parallel with the HL-2A experiments, the HL-2M mega-ampere class tokamak was commissioned in 2020 with its first plasma. Key features and capabilities of HL-2M are briefly presented.

The impact of supersonic molecular beam injection (SMBI) fuelling on plasma turbulence and shear flows, which forms a self-consistent state, has been studied in the HL-2A tokamak. The SMBI flattens the shear layer by collisional flow damping and increases the turbulence intensity. It is found that the SMBI can enhance the nonlinear regulation dynamics and acts as an external tool for turbulence quench via stimulating two dynamic processes. The SMBI-stimulated nonlinear interactions facilitate the L-H transition at the marginal heating power for accessing the H-mode. The effective reduction of the H-mode power threshold by SMBI is demonstrated. The result suggests that the SMBI could be a general tool for realization of controllable L-H transition via reducing the H-mode power threshold in future devices.

The resonant interaction between energetic-particles and tearing mode is an unresolved physics issue at present. It is found for the first time in tokamaks that an unstable tearing mode with slowly rotating m/n=2/1 helicity, where m/n represent poloidal/toroidal mode-numbers, interacts with energetic-ions and results in amplitude-bursting/frequency-chirping fishbone-like activities. Nonlinear hybrid kinetic-MHD simulations with M3D-K code prove that the co-passing energetic-ions are responsible for the drive of tearing modes, and the wave-particle resonance condition is satisfied at $\omega_{\phi}-2\omega_{\theta}-\omega=0$, where $\omega_{\phi}$, $\omega_{\theta}$ and $\omega$ are the toroidal, poloidal angular frequencies of energetic-ions and the mode frequency respectively. These findings can help to understand the tearing mode induced energetic-particle loss and particle acceleration during the tearing mode reconnection in laboratory and space plasmas.

Author(s): Xu, M; Duan, XR; Liu, Y; Song, XM; Liu, DQ; Wang, YQ; Lu, B; Yang, QW; Zheng, GY; Ding, XT; Dong, JQ; Hao, GZ; Zhong, WL; Shi, ZB; Yan, LW; Zou, XL; Liu, YQ; Chen, W; Xiao, GL; Zhang, YP; Jiang, M; Hou, YM; Cheng, J; Liang, AS; Bai, XY; Cao, JY; Cao, Z; Chen, HT; Cui, CH; Cui, ZY; Delpech, L; Diamond, PH; Ekedahl, A; Feng, BB; Giruzzi, G; Gong, SB; He, HM; Hoang, T; Huang, M; Huang, Y; Ida, K; Inagaki, S; Isobe, M; Itoh, K; Itoh, SI; Ji, XQ; Ke, R; Kobayashi, M; Lei, GJ; Li, B; Li, GS; Li, HJ; Li, JQ; Li, Q; Li, Q; Li, XD; Li, YG; Li, Y; Mao, WC; Mazon, D; McKee, GR; Morita, S; Nie, L; Peng, JF; Peysson, Y; Rao, J; Ren, Y; Tynan, GR; Wang, HX; Wang, QM; Wei, HL; Xia, F; Xiao, XP; Xuan, WM; Yan, Z; Yao, K; Yu, LM; Yu, Y; Yu, DL; Yuan, BD; Yuan, BS; Zhang, JH; Zhou, Y; Liu, Y | Abstract: The mission of HL-2A is to explore the key physical topics relevant to ITER and to the advanced tokamak operation (e.g. the operation of future HL-2M), such as the access of H-mode, energetic particle physics, edge-localized mode (ELM) mitigation/suppression and disruption mitigation. Since the 2016 Fusion Energy Conference, the HL-2A team has focused on the investigations on the following areas: (i) pedestal dynamics and L-H transition, (ii) techniques of ELM control, (iii) turbulence and transport, (iv) energetic particle physics. The HL-2A results demonstrated that the increase of mean shear flow plays a key role in triggering L-I and I-H transitions, while the change of flow is mainly induced by the ion pressure gradient. Both mitigation and suppression of ELMs were realized by laser blow-off seeded impurity (Al, Fe, W). The 30% Ne mixture supersonic molecular beam injection seeding also robustly induced ELM mitigation. The ELMs were mitigated by low-hybrid current drive. The stabilization of m/n = 1/1 ion fishbone activities by electron cyclotron resonance heating was found on the HL-2A. A new m/n = 2/1 ion fishbone activity was observed recently, and the modelling indicated that passing fast ions dominantly contribute to the driving of 2/1 fishbone. The non-linear coupling between the toroidal Alfven eigenmode and tearing mode (TM) led to the generation of a high frequency mode with the toroidal mode number n = 0. The turbulence was modulated by TM when the island width exceeds a threshold and the modulation is localized merely in the inner area of the islands. Meanwhile, turbulence radial spread took place across the island region.

Modulation of turbulent electron temperature fluctuations ($\tilde{T}_{e}$) and density fluctuations ($\tilde{n}_{e}$) by an $m/n$ =1/1 tearing mode island was observed in the core plasma region of the HL-2A tokamak. High spatiotemporal resolution two-dimensional (2D) images of $\tilde{T}_{e}$ show the first evidence that the turbulence modulation occurs only when the island width exceeds a certain threshold value ($w_{c} \approx 10 \rho_{i} \approx 4 $ cm) and the modulation is localized merely in the inner area of the island due to significant alteration of local profiles and turbulence drives. Evidence also reveals that for large islands turbulence spreading takes place across the island region. The results are generally consistent with theories and simulations.

In HL-2A, an inverse sawtooth oscillation is observed with a long-lasting m/n = 1/1 mode during ECRH phase with power deposition inside sawtooth inversion radius (inner-deposited ECRH), while a normal sawtooth instead appears when the ECRH power is deposited outside sawtooth inversion radius (outer-deposited ECRH). Aluminum is then injected as a trace impurity with laser blow-off (LBO) method into the inner- and outer-deposited ECRH phases of HL-2A discharges to investigate the effect of ECRH on impurity transport. Temporal behavior of soft x-ray (SXR) array signals is analyzed with a 1D impurity transport code, and radial structures of impurity transport coefficients are obtained. The result shows that the radial transport of Al ions is strongly enhanced during the inner-deposited ECRH phase. In particular, an outward convection velocity is developed with positive values of 0 ≤ V(ρ) ≤ 3.8 m s−1 in ρ ≤ 0.5, while the convection velocity is inward in ρ ≥ 0.6. In the outer-deposited ECRH discharge, on the other hand, the convection velocity takes a big negative value in ρ ≤ 0.4 and close to zero at ρ ~ 0.6. In ohmic discharges, an inward V(ρ) always appears in the whole plasma radii and gradually increases toward the plasma edge (−3.2 m s−1 at ρ = 1). The simulation result also indicates that centrally-peaked Al ion density profiles presented in the outer-deposited ECRH discharge can be flattened by the inner-deposited ECRH. Modification of impurity transport is discussed in the presence of long-lasting m/n = 1/1 MHD mode.

The type of edge turbulence transition from resistive ballooning modes (RBM) to drift-type ion temperature gradient (ITG) modes has been observed in the gas puffing modulation experiments and also simulations at the HL-2A tokamak. The experimental evidence on RMB and ITG characteristics is given by Langmuir probe and Doppler reflectometry data. In the low temperature region (T e 80 eV), the turbulence intensity is enhanced with increasing temperature and reduction of the parallel resistivity, implying a drive by drift wave type ITG modes. By numerical simulations with drift resistive inertial ballooning model, the dependence of the growth rate on the electron temperature for the most unstable mode has been investigated based on experimental parameters. Both experiments and simulations have suggested that the dominating instability transits from RBMs in the low T e regime to ITG modes in the high T e regime.

A novel design of the three-step Langmuir probe (TSLP) array has been developed to investigate the zonal flow (ZF) physics in the HL-2A tokamak. Three TSLP arrays are applied to measure the three-dimensional (3D) features of ZFs. They are separated by 65 mm in the poloidal and 800 mm in the toroidal directions, respectively. The 3D properties of the geodesic acoustic mode (GAM) ZFs are presented. The poloidal and toroidal modes of the radial electric fields of the GAM perturbations are simultaneously determined in the HL-2A tokamak for the first time. The modes have narrow radial wave numbers (kr ρi = 0.03–0.07) and short radial scale lengths (2.4–4.2 cm). High coherence of both the GAM and the ambient turbulence separated by toroidal 22.5 ◦ along a magnetic field line is observed, which contrasts with the high coherence of the GAM and the low coherence of the ambient turbulence apart from the field line. The nonlinear three wave coupling between the turbulent fluctuations and the ZFs is a plausible mechanism for flow generation. The skewness and kurtosis spectra of the probability distribution function of the potential perturbations are contrasted with the corresponding bicoherence for the first time, which support the three wave coupling mechanism.

Recent experiment results from the HL-2A tokamak are presented in this paper. Supersonic molecular beam injection (SMBI) with liquid nitrogen temperature propellant is used. Low temperature SMBI can form hydrogen clusters that penetrate into the plasma more deeply and efficiently. Particle diffusion coefficient and convection velocity (D = 0.5?1.5?m2?s?1 and Vconv < 40?m?s?1, respectively) are obtained at the plasma periphery using modulated SMBI. Multi-probe measurements reveal the m = 0?1, n = 0 symmetries of directly measured low frequency (7?9?kHz) electric potential and field are simultaneously observed for the first time. Impurity transport is determined with the laser blow-off system and transport code. A disruption predictor has been derived based on MHD activity observations and statistical analysis. Sawtooth characteristics during ECRH are investigated and coupling between m = 1 and m/n = 2/1 modes is studied. Detachment features of HL-2A divertor are numerically and experimentally studied using the code SOLPS5.0 and measured data. The long divertor legs and thin divertor throats in HL-2A pose MHD shaping problems resulting in momentum losses even at low densities and strongly enhanced main chamber losses.

Two experiment campaigns were conducted on the HL-2A tokamak in 2003 and 2004 after the first plasma was obtained at the end of 2002. Progresses in many aspects have been made, especially in the divertor discharge and feedback control of plasma configuration. Up to now, the following operation parameters have been achieved: Ip = 320 kA, Bt = 2.2 T and discharge duration Td = 1580 ms. With the feedback control of plasma current and horizontal position, an excellent repeatability of the discharge has been achieved. The tokamak has been operated at both limiter configuration and single null (SN) divertor configuration. The HL-2A SN divertor configuration is simulated with the MHD equilibrium code SWEQU. When the divertor configuration is formed, the impurity radiation in the main plasma decreases remarkably.

Recent experimental results from the HL-1M tokamak and progress in the HL-2A project are presented in this paper. In HL-1M, strong fishbone instability was observed during off-axis electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH). This is the first observation of fishbone instability purely driven by energetic electrons produced by ECRH. The molecular beam injection (MBI) was first proposed and demonstrated in HL-1M. Recently, new results of the MBI experiment were obtained by increasing the pressure of the gas. A stair-shaped density increment was obtained with high-pressure multi-pulse MBI just like the density evolution behaviour during multi-pellet injection. It is shown that injected particles penetrated into the core region of the plasma. HL-2A is a divertor tokamak constructed at SWIP based on the original ASDEX main components. The mission of the HL-2A project is to explore the physics issues involved in an advanced tokamak. For the first phase, divertor (edge plasma) and confinement research will be emphasized. The major parameters of HL-2A are R = 1.65 m, a = 0.4 m, Bt = 2.8 T, IP = 0.48 MA. The main parameters and characteristics of the subsystems such as power supply, pumping, diagnostics and auxiliary heating are presented in this paper. The first plasma of HL-2A was obtained at the end of 2002.

Strong m = 1 MHD activities are observed in the HL-1M tokamak during off-axis electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) when the cyclotron resonance location is placed just outside the q = 1 surface at the high-magnetic-field side of the magnetic surface. Addition of lower-hybrid waves to ECRH significantly enhances the MHD excitation, but lower-hybrid waves alone cannot excite or sustain the mode. This result is a clear demonstration of the suprathermal trapped electron effect on the instability because of the absence of energetic ions in the plasma.

The radial profiles of perpendicular flows in the presence of the magnetic island were firstly measured in the HL-2A tokamak by hopping the work frequency of the Doppler backward scattering reflectometer system along with a two-dimensional electron cyclotron emission imaging diagnostic identifying the island locations. It has been observed that across the O-point cut the perpendicular flow is quite small at the center of the island and strongly enhanced around the boundary of the island, resulting in a large increase of the flow shear in the outer half island, while across the X-point cut the flow is almost flat in the whole island region. Meanwhile it was found that the density fluctuations are generally weakened inside the island. The results indicate that both the perpendicular flow and the density fluctuation level are modulated by the naturally rotating tearing mode near the island boundary. The cross-correlation between the perpendicular flows and the oscillating electron temperature further reveals that the modulation of the perpendicular flow occurs mainly inside and in the vicinity of the island.

We report an experimental result on the stabilization of the energetic–ion driven internal kink mode (ion fishbone) by electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH), observed for the first time in a toroidal plasma. The mode asserts itself a resistive branch close to the marginal stability point. The resulting fishbone mode depends not only on the injected power but also on the radial deposition location of ECRH, and the instability can be completely suppressed when the injected ECRH power exceeds certain threshold. Analysis by the fishbone dispersion relation, including the resistive effect, suggests that the magnetic Reynolds number plays a key role in the mode stabilization—it weakens the mode growth-rate and enhances the critical energetic–ion beta without changing the energetic–ion population. This ion fishbone stabilization mechanism can be important for future devices such as ITER, which has significant ECRH capability.

Multi-scale interactions have been observed recently in the HL-2A core NBI plasmas, including the synchronous coupling between kink mode and tearing mode, nonlinear couplings of TAE/BAE and TM near surface, AITG/KBM/BAE and kink mode near surface, and between kink mode and high-frequency turbulence. Experimental results suggest that several couplings can exist simultaneously, Alfvenic fluctuations have an important contribution to the high-frequency turbulence spectra, and the couplings reveal the electromagnetic character. Multi-scale interactions via the nonlinear modulation process maybe enhance plasma transport and trigger sawtooth-crash onset.

Strong resonant and non-resonant internal kink modes (abbreviated as RKs and NRKs, respectively), which are also called resonant and non-resonant fishbones, are observed on HL-2A tokamak with high-power ECRH + ECCD− (or ECRH) and ECRH + ECCD+, respectively. ('Resonant' derives from the existence of q = 1 surface (the resonant surface), and 'non-resonant' originates from the absence of q = 1 surface (). ECCD+ and ECCD− mean the driving direction of energetic electrons is the same and opposite to plasma current, respectively.) RK has features of periodic strong bursting amplitude and rapid chirping-down frequency, but NRK usually has the saturated amplitude, slow changed or constant frequency and long-lasting time. The NRK excited by energetic electrons is found for the first time. The reversed q-profiles are formed, and q min decreases during plasma current ramp-up. The value of q min is slightly smaller and a bit bigger than unity for RK and NRK conditions, respectively. The internal kink mode (IKM) structures of RKs and NRKs are confirmed by the ECEI system. Although there are different current drive directions of ECCD for excitation of RK and NRK, they all propagate in electron diamagnetic directions in poloidal. The radial mode structures, frequency and growth rate for IKMs are obtained by solving the dispersion relationship. The NRK is stable when q min is larger than a certain value, and with the decreasing q min the frequency drops, but the growth rate almost keeps constant when . This result is in agreement with experimental observation. Studying IKMs excited by energetic electrons can provide important experimental experiences for ITER, because the NRKs may be excited by high-power non-inductive drive of ECCD or ECRH in the operation of hybrid scenarios.

A new method of gas fuelling has been introduced in the HL-1M tokamak. The method consists of a pulsed high speed molecular beam formed by a Laval type nozzle. The velocity of the well collimated hydrogen beam is about 500 m/s. About 6 × 1019 molecules pass through the nozzle and into the vacuum chamber in each pulse. A series of helium pulses was injected into the HL-1M low density (e = 4 × 1018 m-3) hydrogen plasma. With penetration depth up to 12 cm, the ramp-up rate of the electron density, de/dt, was as high as 3.1 × 1020 m-3s-1 at steady state, and the resulting plasma density reached e = 5.6 × 1019 m-3. The profile peaking factor of the electron density, Qn = ne(0)/ne of about 100 ms after helium molecular beam injection (MBI) reached a maximum value of more than 1.51. The energy confinement time τE measured by diamagnetism is 26 ms, which is over 30% longer than that of the gas puffing (GP) results under the same operational conditions. The improvement of τE and increase of Qn for MBI were comparable to those of small pellet injection (PI) in HL-1M, as well as those of slow PI in ASDEX (Kaufmann, M., et al., Nucl. Fusion 28 (1988) 827). It is argued that the peaked density profile induced by the deepened particle injection is a factor essential for the confinement improvement apart from the isotope effect of helium particles, because the density peaking factor Qn is normally less than 1.4 for GP plasma in HL-1M. The particle confinement time with MBI increased sixfold in comparison with that before injection.

Edge localized mode (ELM) is successfully mitigated by helium and deuterium supersonic molecular beam injections (SMBIs) on HL-2A. During the ELM mitigation by SMBIs, gradients of ion temperature (T i) and electron density are softened in the pedestal. It has been observed that the averaged gradient of the T i decreases around 44% and the well depth of radial electric field (E r) is reduced by the SMBI during ELM mitigation. Furthermore, at least 20% decrements of T i have to be attained to achieve a noticeable increase (decrease) of the ELM frequency (amplitude). In addition, the duration of ELM mitigation with helium SMBI is much longer than that with deuterium, likely due to the higher level of recycling neutral gas compared to that of deuterium; in the case of ELM mitigation by helium SMBI, the recovery duration of the density gradient is much shorter (10–20 ms) than that of T i (up to 40 ms or longer), indicating the importance of the T i in the ELM mitigation by SMBI. Finally, it has been observed that the T i is reduced before the beginning of the ELM mitigation, suggesting that the mechanism of the ELM mitigation by SMBI is closely related to the cooling effect.

In HL-2A, the characteristics of the edge plasma instabilities and their effects on the dynamical evolution of the pedestal in H-mode plasmas have been investigated. In the edge pedestal region with steep pressure gradient, a quasi-coherent mode (QCM) has been observed in density fluctuations with a frequency range of 50–100 kHz. It appears during the edge localized mode (ELM)-free period after the L–H transition and prior to the first ELM. A threshold in the pedestal density gradient has been identified for the excitation of this mode. The QCM can also be observed during inter-ELM periods. It is excited early in the inter-ELM period, and disappears when the ELM onset starts. The radial wave-number of the mode is estimated with two radially separated reflectometers. It shows that the mode is radially propagating inward. The poloidal wave number estimated with the Langmuir probes is k θ ~ 0.43 cm−1. The mode propagates poloidally in the electron diamagnetic direction in the plasma frame. The toroidal mode number, deduced from Mirnov signals, is n ~ 7. The corresponding poloidal mode number is m ~ 21 according to the local safety factor value. The analysis for the dynamical evolution of the pedestal during the ELM cycle clearly shows that the mode is excited before the ELM onset. During and after the ELM crash, the mode disappears. It suggests that the QCM is driven by the pedestal density gradient, and the mode in return regulates the pedestal density evolution.

Ion internal transport barriers (iITBs) are first observed in neutral beam injection (NBI) heated plasmas at the HL-2A tokamak. The position of the barrier foot, in the stationary state, coincides with the q = 1 surface within its uncertainty of measurement. iITBs can develop more easily at the beginning of NBI heating. Also, iITBs are unstable for the sawtooth plasma. Simulations reveal that the thermal diffusivity of ions (χ i) inside the barrier can be as low as the neoclassical level. It is observed that the flow shear in the stationary iITB state reaches the level required for suppressing the ion temperature gradient mode instability, which indicates the important role of flow shear in sustaining the iITB.

Understanding of nonlocal electron heat transport is of key importance for current magnetic confinement fusion research. Global nonlocal response presents a fundamental challenge to the standard anomalous transport model based on local microinstabilities and turbulence. Here, we present for the first time a new nonlocal phenomenon triggered by the fishbone instability in HL-2A neutral beam injection plasmas. Rapid core heating leads to a simultaneous decrease in temperature at the plasma edge. The effect reveals fast anomalous transport of core heat pulses to the plasma edge, not compatible with diffusive time scales. More importantly, ΔTe/〈Te〉 ?> variations at different locations are restricted by the intensity of magnetic fluctuations. The ΔTe/〈Te〉 ?> and &lpar;δBθ&rpar;rms ?> form two types of hysteresis loops at two sides of the inversion radius. The ECEIs show that the 2D mode structure of the fishbone is intensive shearing/spiraling during the nonlocal transport. Experimental results suggest that magnetic perturbation, long-range correlation, mesoscale structure and E×B ?> flow play crucial roles in the nonlocal response. The Hurst exponent and auto-correlation coefficient indicate that the nonlocal transport is potentially linked to the self-organized critical (SOC) dynamics. This work will be beneficial for understanding of the plasma dynamics in future fusion reactors.

Recent experimental results that are associated with the core-localized (i.e. normalized radius ρ&equals;r/a<0.5 ?> ) Alfvénic modes in HL-2A neutral beam injection (NBI) plasmas with weak magnetic shears are reported. In the different plasma parameter regions, the energetic ions produced by the NBI drive multiple Alfvénic instabilities, such as the toroidal Alfvén eigenmode (TAE), beta-induced Alfvén eigenmode, reversed shear Alfvén eigenmode (RSAE) and fishbone and energetic particle mode (EPM). Here, we focus on the high-frequency RSAE (HFRSAE) and resonant kinetic ballooning mode (rKBM). A group of downward-sweeping frequency coherent modes (HFRSAEs) with 100 f n = 3–7 are often observed with an increase in the edge safety factor, q a . Their measured frequency is more than that of the TAEs, and fmin∼fTAE ?> . The analysis suggests that these modes localize inside the high-order Alfvén eigenmode (AE) gap of the Alfvénic continuum, and their eigenfrequency and eigenfunction depend on the qmin ?> and q-profile. When the core plasma density is more than 3.0\times {{10}^{19}}$ ?> ne0>3.0×1019 ?> m−3 and the impurity or supersonic molecular beam enters the bulk plasma, the profiles of the plasma density/pressure peak, and the magnetic shear is weak or negative. In this case, a group of multi-harmonic coherent modes (rKBMs) with 30 f n = 2–9 are observed through multiple diagnostic techniques, and f∗pi/2 , where f∗pi&equals;ω∗pi/2π ?> is the diamagnetic drift frequency of the thermal ion. It is found that the HFRSAEs can transit into the rKBMs when the density profile suddenly peaks. Neutron monitoring outside the vacuum chamber demonstrates that the HFRSAE and rKBM both degrade the confinement of the energetic ions. The rKBM instabilities also affect the bulk plasma performance.

Correlation Doppler reflectometers have been newly developed in the HL-2A Tokamak. Owing to the flexibility of the diagnostic arrangements, the multi-channel systems allow us to study, simultaneously, the radial properties of edge turbulence and its long-range correlation in both the poloidal and toroidal direction. With these reflectometers, three-dimensional spatial structure of Geodesic Acoustic Mode (GAM) is surveyed, including the symmetric feature of Er fluctuations in both poloidal and toroidal directions, and the radial propagation of GAMs. The bi-coherence analysis for the Er fluctuations suggests that the three-wave nonlinear interaction could be the mechanism for the generation of GAM. The temporal evolution of GAM during the plasma density modulation experiments has been studied. The results show that the collisional damping plays a role in suppressing the GAM magnitudes, and hence, weakening the regulating effects of GAM on ambient turbulence. Three dimensional correlation Doppler measurements of GAM activity demonstrate that the newly developed correlation Doppler reflectometers in HL-2A are powerful tools for edge turbulence studies with high reliability. A shorter version of this contribution is due to be published in PoS at: ``1st EPS conference on Plasma Diagnostics''.

Impurity transport in the scrape-off layer (SOL) has been studied in ohmically heated discharges of the HL-2A tokamak based on space-resolved vacuum ultraviolet spectroscopy. The vertical profile (from the plasma center to the lower X-point) of carbon emissions of CIII (977 A: 2s2 1S0-2s2p ) and CIV (1548 A: 2s 2S-2p 2P) as well as the ratio of CIV to CIII were measured to investigate the edge impurity transport with relation to impurity source locations and sputtering characteristics. The experimental result shows that the impurity profile in the SOL has been clearly changed against different source locations. The emission of CIII and CIV from the mid-plane is stronger than that from the X-point when the impurity source is located at the divertor plate. The profile becomes flat as a result. When the impurity source changes to the dome source, the profile clearly changes to a slightly peaked one, indicating the edge carbon emission at the X-point is stronger than the mid-plane. The change to the limiter source makes the profile further peaked by increasing the carbon emission at the X-point. In the case of the dome impurity source, the intensity of CIII/ne and CIV/ne, normalized to line-averaged electron density, ne, decreases with ne at low ne (ne ⩽ 2.6 × 1019 m−3) and becomes saturated at high ne (ne > 2.6 × 1019 m−3). In contrast, the ratio of CIV to CIII increases with ne at low ne and starts to decrease at high ne. A numerical simulation with 3D edge plasma transport code, EMC3-EIRENE, suggests that a poloidal asymmetry in the impurity flow profile and an enhanced physical sputtering play an important role in the edge impurity distribution, particularly in the screening efficiency of C2+ and C3+ ions in the SOL region of the HL-2A tokamak.

A class of evident MHD activities prior to major disruption has been observed during recent radiation induced disruptions of the HL-2A tokamak discharges. It can be named SOD, synchronous oscillations prior to disruption, characterized by synchronous oscillation of electron cyclotron emission (ECE), core soft x-ray, Mirnov coil, and radiation signals at the divertor plate. The SOD activity is mostly observed in a parametric regime where the poloidal beta is low enough before disruption, typically corresponding to those radiation-induced disruptions. It has been found that the m/n = 2/1 mode is dominant during the SODs, and consequently it is the drop of the mode frequency and the final mode locking that lead to thermal quench. The mode frequency before the mode locking corresponds to the toroidal rotation frequency of the edge plasma. It is also found that during SODs, the location of the q = 2 surface is moving outward, and most of the plasma current is enclosed within the surface. This demonstrates that the current channel lies inside the rational surface during SOD, and thus the resistive kink mode is unstable. Further analysis of the electron temperature perturbation structure shows that the plasma is indeed dominated by the resistive kink mode, with kink-like perturbation in the core plasma region. It suggests that it is the nonlinear growth of the m/n = 2/1 resistive kink mode and its higher order harmonics, rather than the spontaneous overlapping of multiple neighboring islands, that ultimately triggered the disruption.

The characteristics of beta-induced Alfven eigenmode (BAE) at L–I–H transitions have been investigated in the HL-2A experiments for the first time. It is found that a BAE of fBAE ~ 13.6 kHz coexists with the limit cycle oscillations of fLCO ~ 2.6 kHz and both disappear after the I–H transition in the discharges with L–I–H transitions. It is also found that the ambient turbulence is modulated by the radial electric field at the BAE frequency and that the level of density fluctuation gradually drops in L–I–H transitions, but it remains invariant in L–I–L ones. These results suggest a possible correlation between the BAE and the L–I–H transitions. The sudden disappearance of the BAE in L–I and I–H transitions has the similar effect of sawtooth crashes on triggering L–I–H transitions in the HL-2 A tokamak.

The dynamics of low?intermediate?high confinement transitions was studied using a four-step Langmuir probe in the HL-2A edge plasma. Two types (dubbed type-Y and type-J) of limit cycle oscillations (LCOs) with opposite temporal ordering between the radial electric field and turbulence were first observed. In type-Y, the turbulence grows first, followed by the localized electric field. In contrast, the electric field leads turbulence in type-J. In addition, the Reynolds stress gradient is found not enough to drive the LCO flow and the three-wave nonlinear coupling is weak there. The continuously increasing amplitude of magnetic fluctuations and the significant correlation between the magnetic fluctuation and the electron pressure gradient indicate an important role of diamagnetic drifts in the L?H transition. Mode numbers of magnetic fluctuations in the LCO frequency are identified to be m/n?=?1/0.

Two groups of frequency sweeping modes are observed and interpreted in the HL-2 A plasmas with qmin ~ 1. The tokamak simulation code calculations indicate the presence of a reversed shear q-profile during the existence of these modes. The mode frequencies lie in between TAE and BAE frequencies, i.e. ωBAE 1 and nqmin − m > 0, and another group of modes characterized by up-sweeping frequency with qmin drop, owing to qmin < 1 and nqmin − m < 0 before sawtooth crash. The kinetic Alfven eigenmode code analysis supports that the down-sweeping modes are kinetic reverse shear Alfven eigenmodes (KRSAEs), and the up-sweeping modes are RSAEs, which exist in the ideal or kinetic MHD limit. In addition, the down- and up-sweeping RSAEs both have fast nonlinear frequency behaviour in the process of slow frequency sweeping, i.e. producing pitch-fork phenomena. These studies provide valuable constraint conditions for the q-profile measurements.

Edge localized mode (ELM)-filament statistical characteristics and intermittent convective transport are studied during ELM mitigation (10–30 ms) induced by supersonic molecular beam injection (SMBI) on the HL-2A tokamak. Langmuir probe data show that the burst rate of large amplitude filaments (δne > 4σ) decreases by 30–50% and their radial velocity decreases by 40–60%, which is an indication of an amplitude reduction. A decrease of long-range correlation along the magnetic flux surface is observed after SMBI, indicating a role of electron–ion collisionality on the filament parallel current in the ELM mitigation time. The transient particle and heat fluxes decrease about 40–50% and 50–60%, respectively. These observations indicate that SMBI might be an effective method to suppress the intermittent convective transport.

We report recent experimental results from HL-2A and KSTAR on ELM mitigation by supersonic molecular beam injection (SMBI). Cold particle deposition within the pedestal by SMBI is verified in both machines. The signatures of ELM mitigation by SMBI are an ELM frequency increase and ELM amplitude decrease. These persist for an SMBI influence time τI. Here, τI is the time for the SMBI influenced pedestal profile to refill. An increase in fELMSMBI/fELM0 and a decrease in the energy loss per ELM ΔWELM were achieved in both machines. Physical insight was gleaned from studies of density and vΦ (toroidal rotation velocity) evolution, particle flux and turbulence spectra, divertor heat load. The characteristic gradients of the pedestal density soften and a change in vΦ was observed during a τI time. The spectra of the edge particle flux Γ ∼ 〈ṽrñe〉 and density fluctuation with and without SMBI were measured in HL-2A and in KSTAR, respectively. A clear phenomenon observed is the decrease in divertor heat load during the τI time in HL-2A. Similar results are the profiles of saturation current density Jsat with and without SMBI in KSTAR. We note that τI/τp (particle confinement time) is close to ∼1, although there is a large difference in individual τI between the two machines. This suggests that τI is strongly related to particle-transport events. Experiments and analysis of a simple phenomenological model support the important conclusion that ELM mitigation by SMBI results from an increase in higher frequency fluctuations and transport events in the pedestal. © 2014 IAEA, Vienna.

In our previous letter, the geodesic acoustic mode (GAM) induced by energetic particles (EGAMs) was reported in low density ohmic plasma on HL-2A (Chen et al 2013 Phys. Lett. A 377 387). We extend the experimental results of the EGAM mode in this paper. During strong tearing modes (TMs), the beta-induced Alfv?n eigenmodes (BAEs) and EGAM-induced density fluctuations are firstly measured by microwave Doppler reflectometers with different work frequencies. As predicted by theory, the measurements of magnetic probes and Doppler reflectometers suggest the EGAM magnetic oscillations have poloidal/toroidal mode numbers of m/n?=?2/0, and are localized in the core with a broad radial structure. The mode frequency is less than that of the conventional GAM (i.e. fEGAM/fGAM?1), and is constant in the radial direction. Our experimental results suggest that a density limit exists for the excitation of the EGAM in the ohmic plasma, and the density limit is improved with electron cyclotron resonance heating + neutral beam injection heating on HL-2A. The auto and cross squared bicoherences of magnetic and density fluctuations indicate that intense nonlinear interactions exist among EGAM, BAEs and strong TMs. These new observations will help us to understand the underlying physics mechanism for the excitation of fluctuations in the sub-Alfv?n frequency range.

The generation mechanisms of three-dimensional large-scale coherent structures (LSCSs) along magnetic field lines in the edge plasmas of the HL-2A tokamak are investigated using 10-tip poloidal and 8-tip radial probe arrays toroidally separated by 2100 mm. The LSCSs with radial and poloidal sizes of about (20–30)ρs (hybrid Larmor radius) ~10–15 mm and a finite parallel wave vector are experimentally observed with high spatial and temporal resolutions. The turbulence energy from 30 to 60 kHz is found to contribute significantly to the growth of the turbulent eddies of the broad spectrum. The latter gradually increase, following an increase in turbulence energy at 30–60 kHz, and then break up into LSCSs with dipolar floating potential fluctuations at the inner side of the last closed flux surface (LCFS), where the Reynolds stress driven E × B flow is strong, the flow shearing rate has a maximum and the time scale is close to the LSCS generation time. The LSCSs are then disconnected by the E × B flow shear, move across the LCFS and enter into the scrape-off layer. The back-reaction of the LSCS on turbulence is also observed and may result in LSCS intermittent behaviours. Thus, the increasing turbulent energy and the spontaneous E × B flow shear are identified to be responsible for the generation of LSCSs, which is in agreement with the theoretical prediction and provides unambiguous experimental evidence for the LSCS generation mechanism in tokamak edge plasmas. The correlation between the sheared flow and Reynolds stress is demonstrated. The evidence for the back-reaction of LSCS on turbulence is also presented.

For the first time, edge-localized mode (ELM)-free H-mode was realized in the HL-2A tokamak by using electron cyclotron resonance heating and co-current neutral beam injection (NBI) heating. This ELM-free H-mode is associated with the formation of edge particle transport barrier, an increase in density peaking and a significant decrease in edge turbulence. During the stationary ELM-free phase, an edge magnetohydrodynamic mode is identified, which has similar characteristics to an edge harmonic oscillation (EHO), as observed in other tokamaks. This EHO-like mode enhances edge particle transport, and propagates poloidally in the electron diamagnetic drift direction and toroidally in the same direction as the plasma current and NBI. A detailed analysis of this mode and the EHO–ELM transition is presented in this paper.

The radial structures of multiple sheared flow populations and fluctuations are simultaneously measured using combinations of Langmuir probe arrays in the edge plasmas of the HL-2A tokamak with ohmic and electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH). The maximum of geodesic acoustic mode (GAM) amplitude locates at ∼2-3 cm inside the last close flux surface (LCFS). The low-frequency zonal flow (LFZF) and GAM tend to coexist in the inner region. The dependences of the amplitudes of the multiple sheared flows and turbulence on ECRH heating power are also investigated. The measured turbulent Reynolds stresses are shown to be strongly correlated with the sheared flows, as predicted by theory. The turbulence is modulated at the each frequency of the multiple sheared flows simultaneously, and the particle fluxes induced by the turbulence are significantly reduced near the LCFS and in the GAM peaking region. The analyses also show that the spatial structures of the turbulent envelopes at the LFZF and GAM frequencies are similar to those observed in LFZF and GAM. © 2013 IAEA, Vienna.

Fishbone instability excited by energetic electrons during electron cyclotron resonant heating (ECRH) is identified on HL-2A. With high-power ECRH, periodic frequency jump phenomena are observed by soft x-ray arrays. Soft x-ray tomography shows that the poloidal and toroidal mode numbers are 1/1 and 2/2 with the frequency jump. There is an ECRH power threshold for the frequency jump phenomena, which is generally about 0.9 MW. The frequencies of the two modes increase with the ECRH power. Experiments show that trapped particles are dominant in the low-density high-power ECRH plasma. The precessional frequency of the energetic trapped electrons is calculated with different discharge parameters. The results indicate that the energy of resonant electrons is in agreement with the hard x-ray measurement.

In this paper, an overview of the magnetohydrodynamic instabilities induced by energetic electrons on HL-2A is given and some new phenomena with high-power electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) are presented. A toroidal Alfven eigenmode with frequency from 200 to 350 kHz is identified during powerful ECRH. In the lower frequency range from 10 to 35 kHz, which is in the beta-induced Alfven eigenmode frequency range, the coexistence of multi-mode is found during the high-power ECRH for the first time. The spectra become wide when the power is sufficiently high. The frequencies of the modes increase with and are much lower than the Alfven frequency. The relationship between the mode frequency and (7/4 + Te/Ti)1/2 (Ti)1/2 can be obtained by statistical data analysis. Between the two previous frequency ranges, a group of new modes with frequencies from 50 to 180 kHz is observed with high-power ECRH and neutral beam injection heating together. The modes have clear frequency chirping within several milliseconds or several tens of milliseconds, which are identified as energetic particle mode like instabilities. The new features of the fishbone instability excited by energetic electrons are identified. It is interesting to find the frequency jump phenomena in the high-power ECRH. The difference between the low and high frequencies increases with ECRH power. The frequency jumps between 8 and 15 kHz within about 25 ms periodically, when the power is 1.2 MW.

This conference report summarizes the contributions to and discussions at the 2nd Asia-Pacific Transport Working Group Meeting held in Chengdu, China, from 15 to 18 May 2012. The topics of the meeting were organized under five main headings: momentum transport, non-locality in transport, edge turbulence and L–H transition, three-dimensional effects on transport physics, and particle, momentum and heat pinches. It is found that lower hybrid wave and ion cyclotron wave induce co-current rotation while electron cyclotron wave induces counter-current rotation. A four-stage imaging for low (L) to high (H) confinement transition gradually emerges and a more detailed verification is urgently expected. The new edge-localized modes mitigation technique with supersonic molecular beam injection was approved to be effective to some extent on HL-2A and KSTAR. It is also found that low collisionality, trapped electron mode to ion temperature gradient transition (or transition of higher to lower density and temperature gradients), fuelling and lithium coating are in favour of inward pinch of particles in tokamak plasmas.

The pellet pacing ELM mitigation concept is being tested in some tokamaks such as ASDEX Upgrade, DIII-D and JET. By increasing the ELM frequency, the ELM size can be reduced and eventually suppressed to meet the lifetime requirements on ITER target plates. In the HL-2A tokamak, ELMy H-mode operation is routinely performed and small type-III ELMs with a high repetition rate and some type-I (or possibly large type-III) ELM events are observed. Large ELMs are often preceded by strong coherent magnetic oscillations, and produce obvious perturbations on plasma current I p , electron density at the edge, stored energy W E, etc. The coherent magnetic oscillations before an ELM crash or during the ELM are measured by toroidal and poloidal Mirnov coils and analysed by the wavelet technique to study the spectral characteristics of the short time ELM events. Pellet injection experiments are performed in type-III ELMy H-mode plasmas and ELM-free H-mode plasmas to study the physics of pellet triggering ELM. The analyses of pellet-induced ELMs and spontaneous ELMs are presented. Because the pellet size is relatively large, it induces magnetic oscillations lasting longer than that of a natural ELM.

The physics experiments on the HL-2A tokamak have been focused on confinement improvement, particle and thermal transport, zonal flow and turbulence, filament characteristics, energetic particle induced modes and plasma fuelling efficiency since 2008. ELMy H-mode discharges are achieved in a lower density regime using a combination of NBI heating with ECRH. The power threshold is found to increase with a decrease in density, almost independent of the launching order of the ECRH and NBI heating power. The pedestal density profiles in the H-mode discharges are measured. The particle outward convection is observed during the pump-out transient phase with ECRH. The negative density perturbation (pump-out) is observed to propagate much faster than the positive one caused by out-gassing. The core electron thermal transport reduction triggered by far off-axis ECRH switch-off is investigated. The coexistence of low frequency zonal flow (LFZF) and geodesic acoustic mode (GAM) is observed. The dependence of the intensities of LFZFs and GAMs on the safety factor and ECRH power is identified. The 3D spatial structures of plasma filaments are measured in the boundary plasma and large-scale structures along a magnetic field line analysed for the first time. The beta-induced Alfvén eigenmodes (BAEs), excited by large magnetic islands (m-BAE) and by energetic electrons (e-BAE), are observed. The results for the study of fuelling efficiency and penetration characteristics of supersonic molecular beam injection (SMBI) are described.

Beta-induced Alfvén eigenmode (BAE) during a strong tearing mode activity (termed as m-BAE) has been observed and investigated in HL-2A. BAE excited by energetic electrons (termed as e-BAE) has been identified both in the Ohmic and ECRH plasma. The hard x-ray spectrum detected by cadmium telluride and the non-thermal radiation measured by electron cyclotron emission are used to analyse the behaviour of the energetic electrons. Experimental results show that the e-BAE is related not only to the populations of the energetic electrons, but also their energy distribution. An interesting result about the BAEs modulated by a supersonic molecular beam and gas puffing is presented. In addition, BAEs during a sawtooth cycle are described in this paper. To assess the identification of the e-BAE and m-BAE, the generalized fishbone-like dispersion relation and magnetic-island-induced BAE dispersion relation are solved near marginal stability, respectively. Compared with experimental results, the calculation analysis shows that the observed frequencies are all close to the theoretical results.

Typical ELMy H-mode discharges have been achieved on the HL-2A tokamak with combined auxiliary heating of NBI and ECRH. The minimum power required is about 1.1 MW at a density of 1.6 × 1019 m−3 and increases with a decrease in density, almost independent of the launching order of the ECRH and NBI heating. The energy loss by each edge localized mode (ELM) burst is estimated to be lower than 3% of the total stored energy. At a frequency of typically 400 Hz, the energy confinement time is only marginally reduced by the ELMs. The supersonic molecular beam injection fuelling is found to be beneficial for triggering an L–H transition due to less induced recycling and higher fuelling efficiency. The dwell time of the L–H transition is 20–200 ms, and tends to decrease as the power increases. The delay time of the H–L transition is 10–30 ms for most discharges and is comparable to the energy confinement time. The ELMs with a period of 1–3 ms are sustained for more than ten times the energy confinement time with enhanced confinement factor H89 > 1.5, which tends to decrease with the total heating power. The confinement time in the H-mode discharges increases with plasma current approximately linearly.

The features of ion and electron fishbone instabilities have been investigated during neutral beam injection (NBI) and electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) on HL-2A. Some new phenomena, such as frequency jumps and V-font-style sweeping, have been presented in the paper. Three kinds of i-fishbones, including hybrid sawtooth–fishbone (sawbone), run-on fishbone and classical fishbone, have been identified during NBI. During high power (P ECRH > 0.7 MW) ECRH, the experimental results indicate that the e-fishbone frequencies are higher than those during low power ECRH, and are provided with up- and down-chirping behaviours, and sometimes also with V-font-style sweeping. The periodic mode frequency jumps have also been detected by a soft x-ray array. It is possible to correlate these phenomena with the redistribution of energetic electrons.