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Electron Cyclotron Resonance Heating (ECRH) has contributed to the achievement of high performance plasma production, high electron temperature plasmas and sustainment of steady-state plasmas in the Large Helical Device (LHD). Our immediate targets of upgrading the ECRH system are 5 MW several seconds and 1 MW longer than one hour power injection into LHD. The improvement will greatly extend the plasma parameter regime. For that purpose, we have been promoting the development and installation of 77 GHz/1-1.5 MW/several seconds and 0.3 MW/CW gyrotrons in collaboration with University of Tsukuba. The transmission lines are re-examined and improved for high and CW power transmission. In the recent experimental campaign, two 77 GHz gyrotrons were operated. One more gyrotron, which was designed for 1.5 MW/2 s output, was constructed and is tested. We have been promoting to improve total ECRH efficiency for efficient gyrotron-power use and efficient plasma heating, e.g. a new waveguide alignment method and mode-content analysis and the feedback control of the injection polarization. In the last experimental campaign, the 77 GHz gyrotrons were used in combination with the existing 84 GHz range and 168 GHz gyrotrons. Multi-frequency ECRH system is more flexible in plasma heating experiments and diagnostics. A lot of experiments have been performed in relation to high electron temperature plasmas by realization of the core electron-root confinement (CERC), electron cyclotron current drive (ECCD), Electron Bernstein Wave heating, and steady-state plasma sustainment. Some of the experimental results are briefly described. © 2009 American Institute of Physics.

To sustain plasmas with higher parameters and with longer pulse duration in LHD, ECH system has been upgraded by introducing newly developed 77 GHz gyrotrons. The designed output power and operation duration time are over 1 MW for several seconds and 0.3 MW for continuous operation, respectively. Owing to the upgrade of gyrotrons and improved power supply operation procedure, total injection power of EC-waves to LHD increased up to 3.7 MW at the last LHD experimental campaign in 2010. Application of the high-power 77 GHz EC-waves of 3.4 MW as focused beams to the center of plasma with low line-average electron density of ∼0.2×10 19m -3 causes highly steep electron temperature profile and the central electron temperature reached up to 20 keV, which highly exceeds the former record of 15 keV. At higher density region of 1×10 19m -3, central electron temperature reached 8.6 keV. Additional electron Bernstein wave heatings, O-X-B and slow X-B heatings, using a 77 GHz ECH system caused clear increase in plasma stored energy even for the high-density plasmas over plasma cutoff (>7. 35×10 19m -3) sustained with NBI. For the O-X-B scenario, the 77 GHz EC-wave was obliquely injected from low-field side in O-mode polarization, aiming at the point where high mode-conversion efficiency was expected. For realizing slow X-B scenario, new inner-vessel mirrors were installed in LHD just close to a helical coil, that is, at the high-field side (HFS) region. Using the inner-vessel mirror, X-mode waves were injected from HFS, showing evident increase in plasma stored energy. Oblique injection of long-pulse 0.77 MW/8 s 77 GHz wave with various N ∥ clearly demonstrated ECCD in LHD. The EC-driven current changes its direction with the sign of N ∥, and the highest EC-driven current reached up to 42 kA. © 2011 American Institute of Physics.

Production and heating of over-dense plasmas by 2.45 GHz microwave system under very low field condition was performed and demonstrated on CHS. In this experiment, microwave systems were arranged to aim at taking place mode conversion of launched electron cyclotron wave effectively into electron Bernstein wave (EBW). The power deposition profiles in produced over-dense plasmas were measured directly by using power modulation technique at various magnetic configurations. The power deposition took place dominantly in overdense region. To clarify wave trajectories, power absorption mechanism and mode conversion, a numerical analysis by a ray-tracing method was performed. Calculated ray-trajectories accessed to the region where the experimentally obtained deposition profile has a peak (© 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Achieving steady-state plasma operation at high plasma temperatures is one of the important goals of worldwide magnetic fusion research. High temperatures of approximately 1–2 keV, and steady-state plasma sustainment operations have been reported. Recently the steady-state operation regime was greatly extended in the Large Helical Device (LHD). A high-temperature plasma was created and maintained for 54 min with 1.6 GJ in the 2005FY experimental programme. The three-dimensional heat-deposition profile of the LHD helical divertor was modified, and during long-pulse discharges it effectively dispersed the heat load using a magnetic axis swing technique developed at the LHD. A sweep of only 3 cm in the major radius of the magnetic axis position (less than 1% of the major radius of the LHD) was enough to disperse the divertor heat load. The steady-state plasma was heated and sustained mainly by hydrogen minority ion heating using ion cyclotron range of frequencies and partially by electron cyclotron of fundamental resonance frequency. By accumulating the small flux of charge-exchanged neutral particles during the long-pulse operation, a high energy ion tail which extended up to 1.6 MeV was observed. This is the first experimental evidence of high energetic ion confinement of MeV range in helical devices. The long-pulse operations lasted until a sudden increase in radiation loss occurred, presumably because of metal wall flakes dropping into the plasma. The sustained line-averaged electron density and temperature were approximately 0.8 × 1019 m−3and 2 keV, respectively, at a 1.3 GJ discharge (#53776) and 0.4 × 1019 m−3and 1 keV at a 1.6 GJ discharge (#66053). The average input power was 680 kW and 490 kW, and the plasma duration was 32 min and 54 min, respectively. These successful long operations show that the heliotron configuration has a high potential as a steady-state fusion reactor.

The polarizer is one of the critical components in a high-power millimeter-wave transmission line. It requires full and highly efficient coverage of any polarization states, high-power tolerance, and low-loss feature. Polarizers with rounded shape at the edge of the periodic groove surface are designed and fabricated by the machining process for a mega-watt long-pulse millimeter-wave transmission line of the electron cyclotron resonance heating system in the large helical device. The groove shape of λ/8- and λ/4-type polarizers for an 82.7 GHz transmission line is optimally designed in an integral method developed in the vector theories of diffraction gratings so that the efficiency to realize any polarization state can be maximized. The dependence of the polarization states on the combination of the two polarizer rotation angles (Φλ/8, Φλ/4) is examined experimentally in a low-power test with the newly developed polarization monitor. The results show that the measured polarization characteristics are in good agreement with the calculated ones.

Steady state divertor operation with high performance plasmas (ne ~ 0.7 × 1019 cm−3, Ti ~ 2 keV) was demonstrated for half an hour in the Large Helical Device (LHD), the superconducting helical device (R = 3.6–3.9 m, a = 0.6 m, B = 3 T, l/m = 2/10). The high performance plasmas have been sustained with an averaged heating power of 680 kW and achieved an injected energy of 1.3 GJ. This required both advanced technological integration of heating systems and divertor heat flux control. In particular, optimization of divertor heat flux distribution along the divertor leg trace on divertor plates and real-time magnetic axis sweeping (R = 3.67–3.7 m) have allowed LHD to access a steady state regime with a margin of safety for the actively cooled divertor plates. The distribution of divertor heat load along the traces was investigated with calorimetric measurements and it was found that there was a localized heat load connected with the loss of high-energy ions produced by ion cyclotron radio frequency near-fields. Orbit analysis shows that the behaviour of high-energy ions is qualitatively in good agreement with the experimental result. Long-pulse discharges were terminated by radiation collapse due to penetration of metallic flakes into the plasma.

Two types of improved core confinement were observed during centrally focused electron cyclotron heating (ECH) into plasmas sustained by counter (CNTR) and Co neutral beam injections (NBI) in the Large Helical Device. The CNTR NBI plasma displayed transition phenomena to the high-electron-temperature state and had a clear electron internal transport barrier, while the Co NBI plasma did not show a clear transition or an ECH power threshold but showed broad high temperature profiles with moderate temperature gradient. This indicated that the Co NBI plasma with additional ECH also had an improved core confinement. The electron heat transport characteristics of these plasmas were directly investigated using heat pulse propagation excited by modulated ECH. These effects appear to be related to the m/n = 2/1 rational surface or the island induced by NBI beam-driven current.

This paper reports on the results of an experimental investigation into electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) using the fundamental O-mode in the large helical device (LHD). The aim of the experiment is to understand the mechanism of the selective excitation of the O-mode EC wave and, thereby, optimize the performance of the ECRH. The polarization angle and the ellipticity of the electric field of the incident high power millimetre waves were varied in the experiment using a pair of grating polarizers. The responses of the plasma stored energy and electron temperature were measured to evaluate the effects. The optimum values of the polarization angle and the ellipticity for the ECRH were identified experimentally. A simple model of power branching between the O- and X-modes is introduced in order to interpret the observed experimental results. Specific to the ECRH in the LHD configuration, the effect of magnetic shear in the plasma peripheral region is considered.

The potential of continuous plasma sustainment of Large Helical Device (LHD) was successfully demonstrated by a one hour discharge with 110 kW electron cyclotron heating (ECH) power. The ECH power of frequency 84 GHz generated by a continuous-work (CW) gyrotron is transmitted through an evacuated waveguide transmission line and injected to the LHD vacuum vessel using waveguide antenna. The plasma density was kept at about 1.5 × 1018/m3 and the electron temperature at the plasma center over 1 keV. Due to the low injection power the density was not so high but the plasma was quite stable. The power injection was terminated manually at 3900 seconds from the limitation of the setting of data acquisition, not for any troubles on devices.

Characteristics of MHD instabilities and their impacts on plasma confinement are studied in current free plasmas of the Large Helical Device. Spontaneous L?H transition is often observed in high beta plasmas close to 2% at low toroidal fields (Bt ? 0.75?T). The stored energy starts to rise rapidly just after the transition accompanying the clear rise in the electron density but quickly saturates due to the growth of the m = 2/n = 3 mode (m and n: poloidal and toroidal mode numbers), the rational surface of which is located in the edge barrier region, and edge localized mode (ELM) like activities having fairly small amplitude but high repetition frequency. Even in low beta plasmas without L?H transitions, ELM-like activities are sometimes induced in high performance plasmas with a steep edge pressure gradient and transiently reduce the stored energy up to 10%. Energetic ion driven MHD modes such as Alfv?n eigenmodes (AEs) are studied in a very wide range of characteristic parameters (the averaged beta of energetic ions, ?b?, and the ratio of energetic ion velocity to the Alfv?n velocity, Vb?/VA), of which range includes all tokamak data. In addition to the observation of toroidicity induced AEs (TAEs), coherent magnetic fluctuations of helicity induced AEs (HAEs) have been detected for the first time in NBI heated plasmas. The transition of a core-localized TAE to a global AE (GAE) is also observed in a discharge with temporal evolution of the rotational transform profile, having a similarity to the phenomenon observed in a reversed shear tokamak. At low magnetic fields, bursting TAEs transiently induce a significant loss of energetic ions, up to 40% of injected beams, but on the other hand play an important role in triggering the formation of transport barriers in the core and edge regions.

Significant progress has been made with ion cyclotron range of frequencies (ICRF) heating in the Large Helical Device. This is mainly due to better confinement of the helically trapped particles and less accumulation of impurities in the region of the plasma core. During the past two years, ICRF heating power has been increased from 1.35 to 2.7 MW. Various wave-mode tests were carried out using minority-ion heating, second-harmonic heating, slow-wave heating and high-density fast-wave heating at the fundamental cyclotron frequency. This fundamental heating mode extended the plasma density range of effective ICRF heating to a value of 1×1020 m−3. This use of the heating mode was its first successful application in large fusion devices. Using the minority-ion mode gave the best performance, and the stored energy reached 240 kJ using ICRF alone. This was obtained for the inward-shifted magnetic axis configuration. The improvement associated with the axis-shift was common for both bulk plasma and highly accelerated particles. For the minority-ion mode, high-energy ions up to 500 keV were observed by concentrating the heating power near the plasma axis. The confinement properties of high-energy particles were studied for different magnetic axis configurations, using the power-modulation technique. It confirmed that with the inward-shifted configuration the confinement of high-energy particles was better than with the normal configuration. By increasing the distance of the plasma to the vessel wall to about 2 cm, the impurity influx was sufficiently reduced to allow sustainment of the plasma with ICRF heating alone for more than 2 min.

The behaviour of high-energy ions accelerated by an ion cyclotron range of frequency (ICRF) electric field in the large helical device (LHD) is discussed. A better confinement performance of high-energy ions in the inward-shifted magnetic axis configuration was experimentally verified by measuring their energy spectrum and comparing it with the effective temperature determined by an electron slowing down process. In the standard magnetic axis configuration a saturation of the measured tail temperature was observed as the effective temperature was increased. The ratio between these two quantities is a measure of the quality of transfer efficiency from high-energy ions to a bulk plasma; when this efficiency was compared with Monte Carlo simulations the results agreed fairly well. The ratio of the stored energy of the high-energy ions to that of the bulk plasma was measured using an ICRF heating power modulation method; it was deduced from phase differences between total and bulk plasma stored energies and the modulated ICRF heating power. The measured high energy fraction agreed with that calculated using the injected ICRF heating power, the transfer efficiency determined in the experiment and the confinement scaling of the LHD plasma.

The experimentally optimized magnetic field configuration of the Large Helical Device [A. Iiyoshi et al., Nucl. Fusion 39, 1245 (1999)], where the magnetic axis is shifted inward by 15 cm from the early theoretical prediction, reveals 50% better global energy confinement than the prediction of the scaling law. This configuration has been investigated further from the viewpoints of high energy particle confinement and magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) stability. The confinement of high energy ions is improved as expected. The minority heating of ion cyclotron range of frequency was successful and the heating efficiency was improved by the inward shift. The confinement of passing particles by neutral beam injection was also improved under low magnetic field strength, and there could be obtained an almost steady high beta discharge up to 3% in volume average. This was a surprising result because the observed pressure gradient exceeded the Mercier unstable limit. The observed MHD activities became as high as beta but they did not grow enough to deteriorate the confinement of high energy ions or the performance of the bulk plasma, which was still 50% better than the scaling. According to these favorable results, better performance would be expected by increasing the heating power because the neoclassical transport can also be improved there.

Enhancement of the output power per gyrotron has been planned in the Large Helical Device (LHD). Three 77-GHz gyrotrons with an output power of more than 1 MW have been operated. In addition, a high power gyrotron with the frequency of 154 GHz (1 MW/5 s, 0.5 MW/CW) was newly installed in 2012 and the total injection power of ECRH reached 4.6 MW. The operational regime of ECRH plasma on the LHD has been extended due to the upgraded ECRH system such as the central electron temperature T{sub e0} = 13.5 keV with n{sub e} = 1×10{sup 19}m{sup −3}. In the LHD, an electron-internal-transport barrier (e-ITB) related to the production of high T{sub e} plasmas has been realized by strongly centre-focused ECRH. The electron thermal confinement clearly improved inside the e-ITB. The radial electric field was measured using the heavy ion beam probe. The formation of the positive E{sub r} was observed in the core region, which well agreed with the prediction of the neoclassical transport theory. The energy confinement characteristics have been investigated in the ECRH plasmas. It was found that higher plasma stored energy and lower radiation power was realized in the outward configuration. The plasma stored energy of 530more » kJ with n{sub e} = 3.2×10{sup 19}m{sup −3}, which is the 1.7 times larger than the previous record in the ECRH plasma in the LHD, has been successfully achieved.« less

Long-pulse discharge with the electron density ne0 of 1 × 1019 m−3, electron temperature Te0 of 2.5 keV, discharge length tdis of 19 minutes and heating power Pinject of 1MW, is demonstrated using the HAS antenna and the PA antenna for ion cyclotron heating (ICH) and increasing in the power of electron cyclotron heating (ECH). The HAS antenna is designed to phase dipole and excite ideal fast wave with parallel electric field kept small, and low impurity generation and accumulation are achieved on the steady-state discharge by weak parasitic heating around antennas. On the long-pulse discharge, the radiation measured by bolometer is kept smaller than 20% for injection power, and the heat load to divertor is approximately 60 % with low energetic particle losses. The heat load ratio to divertor is not as a function of injection power around 1MW, and energy confinement has been kept during the steady-state discharge.

During the first two years of the LHD experiment the following results have been achieved: (i) higher Te (Te(0) = 4.4 keV at ne = 5.3 × 1018 m-3 and Pabs = 1.8 MW); (ii) higher confinement (τE = 0.3 s, Te(0) = 1.1 keV at ne = 6.5 × 1019 m-3 and Pabs = 2.0 MW); (iii) higher stored energy, Wpdia = 880 kJ at B = 2.75 T. High performance plasmas have been realized in the inward shifted magnetic axis configuration (R = 3.6 m) where helical symmetry is recovered and the particle orbit properties are improved by a trade-off of MHD stability properties due to the appearance of a magnetic hill. Energy confinement was systematically higher than that predicted by the International Stellarator Scaling 95 by up to a factor of 1.6 and was comparable with the ELMy H mode confinement capability in tokamaks. This confinement improvement is attributed to configuration control (inward shift of the magnetic axis) and to the formation of a high edge temperature. The average beta value achieved reached 2.4% at B = 1.3 T, the highest beta value ever obtained in a helical device, and so far no degradation of confinement by MHD phenomena has been observed. The inward shifted configuration has also led to successful ICRF minority ion heating. ICRF powers up to 1.3 MW were reliably injected into the plasma without significant impurity contamination, and a plasma with a stored energy of 200 kJ was sustained for 5 s by ICRF alone. As another important result, long pulse discharges of more than 1 min were successfully achieved separately with an NBI heating of 0.5 MW and with an ICRF heating of 0.85 MW.

Semiconductor detectors based on natural diamonds have been installed on the Large Helical Device (LHD) heliotron to measure the energy distribution of charge exchange fast neutral particles from different viewing angles. Advantages of a natural diamond detector (NDD) are (1) very compact size, (2) relatively easy handling, and (3) high energy resolution. Although NDDs are sensitive to visible light, vacuum ultraviolet, and soft x rays, unfavorable pulses produced by such radiation were greatly reduced by choosing an appropriate stainless steel shield in this experiment. In LHD, the time-resolved energy distribution of counter-going beam ions and ion cyclotron range of frequency-produced energetic ions have been successfully obtained by means of an NDD. The performance of NDDs as a neutral particle analyzer and its good suitability to LHD plasmas were demonstrated throughout this work.

Ion cyclotron range of frequency (ICRF) heating on the large helical device (LHD) is characterized by high power (up to 12 MW) and steady state operation (30 min). The LHD is a helical device (with a major radius of 3.9 m and a minor radius of 0.6 m) with superconducting coil windings (l=2, m=10). The main purpose of physical research is to investigate currentless and disruption-free plasma. Research and development for steady state ICRF heating has been carried out in recent years: A high rf power transmission system consisting of stub tuners, a ceramic feedthrough, and an ion cyclotron heating loop antenna has been developed. In addition, steady state operation of a rf oscillator has been achieved at a power higher than 1 MW. A liquid stub tuner has been proposed as an innovation. The liquid stub tuner makes use of the difference between the rf wavelengths in liquid and in gas due to the different relative dielectric constants. The liquid stub tuner has been experimentally proved to be a reliable rf com...

Application of Ion Bernstein Wave Heating (IBWH) into the Princeton Beta Experiment‐Modification (PBX‐M) [Phys. Fluids B 2, 1271 (1990)] tokamak stabilizes sawtooth oscillations and generates peaked density profiles. A transport barrier, spatially correlated with the IBWH power deposition profile, is observed in the core of IBWH‐assisted neutral beam injection (NBI) discharges. A precursor to the fully developed barrier is seen in the soft x‐ray data during edge localized mode (ELM) activity. Sustained IBWH operation is conducive to a regime where the barrier supports large ∇ne, ∇Te, ∇νφ, and ∇Ti, delimiting the confinement zone. This regime is reminiscent of the H(high) mode, but with a confinement zone moved inward. The core region has better than H‐mode confinement while the peripheral region is L(low)‐mode‐like. The peaked profile enhances NBI core deposition and increases nuclear reactivity. An increase in central Ti results from χi reduction (compared to the H mode) and better beam penetration. Boot...

Millimeter-wave components were re-examined for high power (Mega-Watt) and steady- state (greater than one hour) operation. Some millimeter-wave components, including waveguide joints, vacuum pumping sections, power monitors, sliding waveguides, and injection windows, have been improved for high power CW (Continuous Waves) transmission. To improve transmission efficiency, information about the wave phase and mode content of high power millimeter-waves propagating in corrugated waveguides, which are difficult to measure directly, were obtained by a newly developed method based on retrieved phase information. To optimize the plasma heating efficiency, a proof-of-principle study of the injection polarization feedback control was performed in the low power test stand.

The large helical device (LHD) has fourteen experiment cycles so far. The ion cyclotron range of frequencies (ICRF) heating has been carried out successfully on LHD; High RF power heating up to 3MW and the long pulse plasma discharge up to about one hour (54 minutes) have been achieved using the poloidal array (PA) antennas. In the 14th experiment cycle (2010) a new one pair of ICRF heating antennas was installed in LHD. This pair consists of two antennas arrayed in the toroidal direction and has a controllability of the wave number along the magnetic field line k∥ with changing the phase difference between them. The target plasma consisted of the helium plasma as the majority with the hydrogen‐ion minority. Several experiment results were obtained and compared with those obtained using the PA antenna (no capability of changing k∥). The fast wave with a large k∥ is excited with (0, π) phasing between two antennas, and a small wave‐number of k∥ with (0, 0) phasing. The plasma loading resistance in (0, π) w...

Three Mega-Watt 77GHz gyrotrons were developed for an ECRH system in LHD. Their operation could be highly optimized by means of two-step rise of an anode voltage. Output power of 1.78MW with 37.9% efficiency were obtained in the 3rd gyrotron. The system improvement has been promoted including the development of a mmw-beam position and profile monitor. © 2011 IEEE.

In LHD, an ECH system for fusion-relevant plasma heating has been greatly progressed with the development of megawatt gyrotrons. Net power of 3.7 MW could be injected into LHD. For stable operation, a new position and profile monitor of the mmw-beams in evacuated transmission lines is developed. © 2010 IEEE.

Production of over-dense plasmas by launching 2.45 GHz microwaves under very low field conditions has been successfully demonstrated on CHS.1 In the experiment, microwaves systems were arranged to aim at taking place mode conversion of launched electron cyclotron wave effectively into electron Bernstein wave (EBW). One system (ECH#1) is launched nearly perpendicularly to the toroidal field, where FX-B conversion scenario is expected. Another (ECH#2) is launched obliquely for O-X-B conversion scenario. This experiment aims at clarifying the excitation, propagate and absorption of mode converted EBW. Power deposition profiles in produced over-dense plasmas were measured directly by using power modulation technique at various magnetic configurations where electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) and upper hybrid resonance (UHR) layers were scanned in space widely.2 Figure 1 is radial profile of electron temperature T e , electron density n e and electron pressure p e . This figure also shows the response in p e to ECH#1 or ECH#2 source p e , and the coherence γp e 2 and phase difference between δ p e and the modulated ECH power Φ pe at B t /B res = 100%. Electron density exceeds 2–3 times O-mode cutoff density (n co ∼ 7.5×1016m−3). Power deposition profile corresponds to Φ pe -profile and the peak position is in over-dense region. Similarly, it was investigated in the cases of B t /B res = 70%, 50% and 20%.

Parametric scaling studies of radiofrequency and neutral beam heated currentless Heliotron E plasmas have been performed. The parametric local electron transport analyses show that the electron energy transport in electron cyclotron heating (ECH) plasmas is nearly of the same magnitude as the neoclassically predicted transport inside the 2/3 radius, while neutral beam injection (NBI) plasmas and plasmas in the ion cyclotron range of frequencies (ICRF) are dominated by anomalous electron transport in the entire region. Scaling studies on the global energy confinement time reveal that ECH, NBI and ICRF plasmas obey approximately identical scalings that are characterized by continuous power degradation and favourable positive density dependence. The global energy confinement time is thought to be affected by the anomalous transport in the peripheral plasma regions in the same way for ECH, NBI and ICRF plasmas although the core plasma properties – such as local electron transport – seem to be different for the individual plasmas.

Demonstration of a long pulse or a steady state operation of ECH and sustainment of non‐collapsed plasma only by ECH is important in LHD from both the confinement device and the heating system engineering points of view. A gyrotron with a diamond output window is introduced and operated at the power level of 150 kW for more than 1 hour after modification of the cooling and evacuation system of the ECH transmission line. The power of about 110 kW injected into LHD is used to sustain the plasma with the electron density of 1.5 × 1018 m−3 and central temperature of more than 1.0 keV for 3900 sec. The gas puffing rate is carefully controlled so that the plasma density does not exceed the critical value above which the plasma collapsed for given injection power, magnetic configuration and wall condition of LHD. The results of gyrotron operation, transmission system modification for long pulse and optimizations of the magnetic field configuration of LHD and gas puffing for a given injection condition are discussed.

A long pulse discharge more than 2 minutes was achieved using Ion Cyclotron Range of Frequency (ICRF) heating only on the Large Helical Device (LHD). The final goal is a steady state operation (30 minutes) at MW level. A liquid stub tuner was newly invented to cope with the long pulse discharge. The liquid surface level was shifted under a high RF voltage operation without breakdown. In the long pulse discharge the reflected power was observed to gradually increase. The shift of the liquid surface was thought to be inevitably required at the further longer discharge. An ICRF heating system consisting of a liquid stub tuner was fabricated to demonstrate a feedback control impedance matching. The required shift of the liquid surface was predicted using a forward and a reflected RF powers as well as the phase difference between them. A liquid stub tuner was controlled by the multiprocessing computer system with CINOS (CHS Integration No Operating System) methods. The prime objective was to improve the performance of data processing and controlling a signal response. By employing this method a number of the program steps was remarkably reduced. A real time feedback control was demonstrated in the system using a temporally changed electric resistance.

Heating experiment using high-power ion cyclotron range of frequency (ICRF) waves has been carried out and remarkable results as an ICRF heating in helical system were obtained in LHD. The maximum ICRF power was 2.7 MW. Good he0ating condition was obtained when the ion cyclotron resonance layer was located near the saddle point of the magnetic field. In this condition, the wave frequency is 38.47 MHz and strength of magnetic field is 2.75 T. Most of ICRF power was absorbed by ions and behavior of high-energy ions was investigated in the various heating conditions. The stored energy more than 1 MJ was achieved by combination of the ICRF heating with NBI heating. Fundamental cyclotron heating was observed in the high stored energy experiment. Second harmonic heating regime was shown to be useful heating scheme in LHD. The length of the ICRF pulse was extended to more than two minutes in the low power operation.

Ion-cyclotron heating was applied to the Large Helical Device. When the proton-cyclotron resonance was near the saddle point of the magnetic field-strength plane, strong ion-cyclotron damping occurred. Under these conditions efficient plasma heating was achieved for more than one minute. A high-energy ion tail was observed, and the effective tail temperature was determined by a balance between the wave acceleration and the electron-drag relaxation. There was no apparent sign of particle orbit loss effect in the investigated density range of 0.8-1.3x10(19) m(-3).

In LHD discharges a significant enhancement of the global energy confinement has been achieved for the first time in a helical device with an edge thermal barrier, which exhibits a sharp gradient at the edge of the temperature profile. Key features associated with the barrier are quite different from those seen in tokamaks: (i) almost no change in particle (including impurity) transport, (ii) a gradual formation of the barrier, (iii) a very high ratio of the edge temperature to the average temperature, and (iv) no edge relaxation phenomenon. These features are very attractive in applying the thermal barrier to future reactor grade devices.

The final goal of Ion Cyclotron Range of Frequency (ICRF) heating on the Large Helical Device (LHD) is characterized by its high power (up to 12MW) and by steady state operation (30 minutes). Initial ICRF heating experiments were carried out using a pair of loop antemas in the 2nd experimental campaign in 1998. The ICRF heating power was applied to an ECH-produced plasma at an RF power level of 300 kW for 0.2 seconds. An applied frequency of f=25.6 MHz was selected. A cyclotron resonance layer of hydrogen ions was located at the half minor radius during operation at B=1.5 T. A mode conversion layer of a He plasma with a minority of hydrogen ions was located between the magnetic axis and the last closed magnetic flux. The plasma stored energy was observed to increase to twice that of the ECH plasma (PECH=300 kW). The plasma stored energy of the ECH target plasma was 11-13 kJ at an average electron density of ne=8–9×1018 m−3 and a central electron temperature of Te0=400 eV. The plasma stored energy increase...

The steady-state operation of high-performance plasmas in the Large Helical Device (LHD) has progressed since the 2010 IAEA Conference in Korea by means of a newly installed ion cyclotron heating (ICH) antenna (HAS antenna) and an improved electron cyclotron heating (ECH) system. The HAS antenna can control the launched parallel wave number and heat the core plasma efficiently in the case of dipole mode operation. Understanding of the physics and technology of wave heating, particle and heat flow balances, and plasma?wall interactions in LHD has also improved. The heating power of steady-state ICH and ECH exceeded 1?MW and 500?kW, respectively, and a higher density helium plasma with minority hydrogen ions was maintained using the HAS antenna and new 77?GHz gyrotrons. As a result, plasma performance improved, e.g. electron temperature of more than 2?keV at a density of more than 2???1019?m?3 became possible for more than 1?min. Heat flow balance and particle flux balance of steady-state operation were evaluated. Particle balance analysis indicated that externally fed helium and hydrogen particles were mainly absorbed by the chamber wall and divertor plates, even after the 54?min operation.

We will describe the capabilities of a folded waveguide (FWG) antenna and its application to ion Bernstein wave (IBW) heating in the Large Helical Device (LHD). LHD is scheduled to begin plasma operation in 1998. We are currently developing a FWG antenna to launch IBW to both produce and sustain the LHD plasma. We have fabricated a mockup FWG antenna to obtain the fundamental RF characteristics. The mockup FWG can produce various wave numbers parallel to the magnetic field line with either polarization plates or shorting bars in the antenna aperture. Preliminary results show a sharply defined wave number spectrum along the magnetic field line, which could provide efficient core electron heating. This type of direct electron heating is superior to fast wave minority heating, because it can avoid fast orbit losses of deeply trapped high energy ions.

Ion cyclotron range of frequency (ICRF) heating is currently in use on CHS and W7‐AS and is a major element of the heating planned for steady state helical devices. In helical devices, the lack of a toroidal current eliminates both disruptions and the need for ICRF current drive, simplifying the design of antenna structures as compared to tokamak applications. However the survivability of plasma facing components and steady state cooling issues are directly applicable to tokamak devices. Results from LHD steady state experiments should be available on a time scale to strongly influence the next generation of steady state tokamak experiments. The helical plasma geometry provides challenges not faced with tokamak ICRF heating, including the potential for enhanced fast ion losses, impurity accumulation, limited access for antenna structures, and open magnetic field lines in the plasma edge. The present results and near term plans provide the basis for steady state ICRF heating of larger helical devices. An a...

Since the successful first plasma generation in the middle of 2008, three experimental campaigns were successfully made for the KSTAR device, accompanied with a necessary upgrade in the power supply, heating, wall-conditioning and diagnostic systems. KSTAR was operated with the toroidal magnetic field up to 3.6 T and the circular and shaped plasmas with current up to 700 kA and pulse length of 7 s, have been achieved with limited capacity of PF magnet power supplies. The mission of the KSTAR experimental program is to achieve steady-state operations with high performance plasmas relevant to ITER and future reactors. The first phase (2008–2012) of operation of KSTAR is dedicated to the development of operational capabilities for a super-conducting device with relatively short pulse. Development of start-up scenario for a super-conducting tokamak and the understanding of magnetic field errors on start-up are one of the important issues to be resolved. Some specific operation techniques for a super-conducting device are also developed and tested. The second harmonic pre-ionization with 84 and 110 GHz gyrotrons is an example. Various parameters have been scanned to optimize the pre-ionization. Another example is the ICRF wall conditioning (ICWC), which was routinely applied during the shot to shot interval. The plasma operation window has been extended in terms of plasma beta and stability boundary. The achievement of high confinement mode was made in the last campaign with the first neutral beam injector and good wall conditioning. Plasma control has been applied in shape and position control and now a preliminary kinetic control scheme is being applied including plasma current and density. Advanced control schemes will be developed and tested in future operations including active profiles, heating and current drives and control coil-driven magnetic perturbation.

The collective Thomson scattering (CTS) technique has been utilized with the backscattering configuration in the collective scattering regime to diagnose the velocity distribution functions in the Large Helical Device (LHD). The receiver was equipped with 16 channels and the first test has been carried out using the eight channels for scattered radiation and these channels cover a few GHz frequency shift from the 76.95 GHz probe beam. During the discharge, the electron density and temperature at the central region of the LHD are 1×1019m−3, and 1.0 keV, respectively. The probing beam with rectangular wave modulation is injected by 50 Hz in order to be distinct from the background electron cyclotron emission (ECE). The scattered radiation is resolved successfully at each channel of CTS receiver system. The detected signals of bulk ion and electron components are by a factor of 10 ~ 102 larger than the background ECE signal. We found that the measured spectra are in reasonably agreement with the theoretical spectra calculated by using the reliable measured electron temperature and density for input parameters. The CTS receiver system will be improved to obtain more accurate velocity distributions in high temperature plasmas.

A new method is proposed to analyze the mode content of high power electromagnetic waves that are propagating through corrugated waveguides in the electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECH) systems for nuclear fusion devices. The method was applied to the 168 GHz transmission line of the ECH system in the Large Helical Device (LHD) to evaluate the waveguide alignment. The mode content of the propagating waves could be accurately analyzed using this method. Furthermore, the wave field in the waveguide was reconstructed using the mode content information obtained for each mode.

Ion cyclotron range of frequencies (ICRF) heating antennas in LHD are numerically simulated and analyzed by HFSSTM finite-element electromagnetic wave field calculation code. The model includes an accurate vacuum chamber wall of LHD and ICRF antenna structure and a simple model of plasma in a helical configuration. Antenna coupling with plasma is simulated by an artificial freshwater volume with enhanced high permittivity of e = 500-2000. RF current distribution and electromagnetic field distribution on and near the ICRF antenna are analyzed and well elucidated through a comparison with the experimental results. The frequency dependence of experimental loading resistance can be simulated by the calculation, and the RF dissipation on the antenna structure is studied and compared with experimental results. The local high heat load around gaps between the carbon side protectors is well explained, and the effect of gap distance is studied. Comparison with the experimental results reveals that the ICRF heating in the LHD, including the antenna and helical plasma, is well simulated by commercial HFSSTM code analysis. It will also be useful for future improvements in ICRF antenna design in helical devices.

A transition to a high electron temperature state in the core accompanied by an electron internal transport barrier (eITB) was clearly observed in neutral beam (NB) sustained plasmas with strongly focused on-axis electron cyclotron heating (ECH) in Large Helical Device (LHD). During stepwise injection of ECH power, the core electron temperature started to build up spontaneously and became high temperature in the core (high-Te state), while the temperature outside of ρ 0.3 drastically decreased. The transition dynamics of the core temperature is analyzed by the time evolution of electron temperature profiles and heat flux changes based on the data from multi-channel electron cyclotron emission. Effect of an initial island size (m/n=2/1) on the high-Te transition was experimentally investigated by controlling the width by an external coil field. The results show that the island size possibly affects a threshold value of ECH power and collisionality on the high-Te transition.

An on-chip automatic erase technique using an internal voltage generator has been developed and has proved to operate well in 1-Mb-flash EEPROM. This technology permits accurate control of erasure and guarantees the performance after erasure of the true single-transistor-per-cell type of flash EEPROM. Device implementation is described

In the Large Helical Device, the stray microwave radiation is monitored by using so-called sniffer probes during electron cyclotron heating. In monitoring the stray radiation, we changed the microwave beam injection angle and search the O-X-B mode-conversion window to excite electron Bernstein waves (EBWs). When the microwave beam is injected toward the vicinity of the predicted O-X-B mode-conversion window, the electron temperature rises in the central part of overdense plasmas. In that case, the stray radiation level near the injection antenna becomes low. These results indicate that monitoring the stray radiation near the injection antenna is helpful in confirming the effectiveness of excitation of EBWs simply without precise analysis.

Electron-cyclotron and neutral-beam heating have been used to produce currentless plasma with $〈\ensuremath{\beta}〉\ensuremath{\approx}(1\ensuremath{-}2)%$ in the Heliotron-$E$ device. For moderately peaked profiles, magnetohydrodynamic activity that peaks at the $t=1$ surface has been observed. The characteristics of the fluctuations are consistent with theoretical expectations for an $m=1$ pressure-driven instability. The magnetohydrodynamic activity is associated with particle and energy losses but has not yet been directly linked to global confinement.

Recent results of the heating experiment on the Heliotron E plasma are reported. Two heating methods are applied; electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) and neutral injection (NBI) heating. In the ECRH experiment, a currentless high-temperature plasma is produced with the use of a gyrotron capable of delivering an output power of 200 kW for 40-ms duration at 28 GHz. The electron and the ion temperatures at the center −Te(0) and Ti(0) − 1.1 keV and 120 eV, respectively, and the average density n e of 5 × 1012 cm−3 is obtained. The NBI heating has produced the plasma which has the temperatures of Te(0) ∼ Te(0) ∼ 660 eV and the density n e of 3 × 1013 by the NBI power of about 1.6 MW. The heating efficiency has been found to be about 2 ( eV ·P abs ( kW ) n e (10 13 cm −3 ), where P abs is the absorbed neutral beam power, for bot perpendicular and 28° co- and counter-injection angles from the normal direction of the torus. The central beta value reaches about 1%.

Particle control with pump limiters has been successfully demonstrated in a variety of tokamaks. This experiment has obtained, for the first time, experimental data on pump limiter operation in a heliotron configuration. A movable pump limiter module was installed on a horizontal midplane port of Heliotron-E. The limiter module was installed on a horizontal midplane port of Heliotron-E. The limiter assembly consists of a TiC-coated graphite head with single-sided particle collection and active pumping. The location of the limiter is varied from near the vacuum vessel wall or up to 8 cm inside the last closed magnetic flux surface. This flexibility permits the study of a heliotron plasma that is limited either by the magnetic separatrix or by a material limiter. In the configuration investigated, only very low pressures are observed in the pump limiter when it is located outside the last closed flux surface, indicating that the scrape-off layer density is very low ( 11 cm −3 ). For limiter positions inside the last closed flux surface, pressures of 2–6 mTorr are observed (similar to comparable tokamak operation). Erosion patterns on the vacuum vessel, as well as hot spots on the limiter head, indicate that the particle flow out of the confined plasma exhibits complicated patterns. This suggests that for efficient particle collection in a stellarator, pump limiters must be matched to the particle flow patterns.

A currentless plasma with a volume-averaged beta value of 2% has been produced with neutral beam heating. Target plasmas were created by second harmonic resonance heating with electron cyclotron waves (150–350 kW and 53.2 GHz) at a magnetic field strength of 0.94 T. Neutral beam injection (23–30 keV and 1.3−2.6 MW) was used to heat the plasma further. MHD stable and unstable high-beta plasmas were observed. The Q-mode plasmas were produced with the help of intense neutral gas puffing. Properties of the MHD activity and confinement of high-beta plasmas are discussed and compared with theoretical studies.

The first biased limiter experiment has been done in Heliotron E, which is a typical stellarator / heliotron type device. This experiment investigates the boundary physics of the currentless plasmas, which are produced in the magnetic limiter (divertor) configuration. We analyze the experimental results related to the surface potential, recycling process, and plasma parameters using a material limiter which was biased from the vacuum chamber. The boundary density profile was measured by a thermal Li beam probe to investigate the effect of the biased limiter.

Impurity transport in currentless Heliotron E plasmas is examined. The main aim of the experiment is to clarify the density dependence of impurity transport both in electron cyclotron heated (ECH) and neutral beam injected (NBI) plasmas. In experiments with a stationary electron density, the confinement time of impurities is determined as a function of the line averaged electron density. The inherent difference between ECH and NBI plasmas, observed in an earlier measurement, seems to have been masked by the operating conditions. From a direct comparison between NBI plasmas and simultaneous ECH and NBI heated plasmas of the same density, a pumping-out effect of impurities by the ECH pulse is established. From numerical analyses, the unexpected discrepancy between observed and calculated VUV spectral data can be explained by a charge exchange process. The observed impurity transport is found to be well described by a model which incorporates the effects of radial diffusion and inward convection. The inward flow does not seem to be due to the plasma potential because the flow is also observed in ECH plasmas where the heating power is expected to contribute to a reversed potential. The flow velocity is of the order of the classical friction between background ions and seems to play only a minor role in various aspects of impurity transport in NBI plasmas, such as impurity accumulation. The variety in impurity transport in Heliotron E plasmas is best understood by changes in the diffusion coefficient.

The heating systems for the new large helical device which has been designed as a joint effort among Japanese universities are reported. The conceptional design of the heating devices and basic hardware structures are discussed. ECH heating system (112 GH z ) with maximum power of around 10MW is proposed to produce and heat the net current-less plasma. For the further heatings, NBI (20 MW, 100 kV, H 0 ) and ICRF (9 MW, 30–90 MH z ) heating systems have been considered. High energy particle loss, which is a fairly serious problem in helical configurations (stellarator/heliotron), have been analyzed numerically. Monte-Carlo calculation shows that, for tangential injection, the beam energy over 100 kV is necessary to obtain the thermalization efficiency of above 60% inside the half radius. On the fast-wave (ICRF) heating, theoretical analysis of the wave field and velocity distribution function, which includes the loss cone effect, has been developed. In the case of 3 He minority heating, the orbit loss problem becomes small than in the case of proton minority heating. From these theoretical analysis and hardware considerations, the required thermalized power of around 20 MW can be obtained by ECH, NBI and ICRF heatings.