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We use the beam model of Doppler backscattering (DBS), which was previously derived from beam tracing and the reciprocity theorem, to shed light on mismatch attenuation. This attenuation of the backscattered signal occurs when the wavevector of the probe beam's electric field is not in the plane perpendicular to the magnetic field. Correcting for this effect is important for determining the amplitude of the actual density fluctuations. Previous preliminary comparisons between the model and Mega-Ampere Spherical Tokamak (MAST) plasmas were promising. In this work, we quantitatively account for this effect on DIII-D, a conventional tokamak. We compare the predicted and measured mismatch attenuation in various DIII-D, MAST, and MAST-U plasmas, showing that the beam model is applicable in a wide variety of situations. Finally, we performed a preliminary parameter sweep and found that the mismatch tolerance can be improved by optimizing the probe beam's width and curvature at launch. This is potentially a design consideration for new DBS systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small 3D perturbations to the magnetic field in DIII-D ( δ B / B ∼ 2 × 10 − 4 ) result in large modulations of density fluctuation amplitudes in the pedestal, which are shown using Doppler backscattering measurements to vary by a factor of 2. Helical perturbations of equilibrium density within flux surfaces have previously been observed in the pedestal of DIII-D plasmas when 3D fields are applied and were correlated with density fluctuation asymmetries in the pedestal. These intra-surface density and pressure variations are shown through two fluid MHD modeling studies using the M3D-C1 code to be due to the misalignment of the density and temperature equilibrium iso-surfaces in the pedestal region. This modeling demonstrates that the phase shift between the two iso-surfaces corresponds to the diamagnetic direction of the two species, with the mass density surfaces shifted in the ion diamagnetic direction relative to the temperature and magnetic flux iso-surfaces. The resulting pedestal density, potential, and turbulence asymmetries within flux surfaces near the separatrix may be at least partially responsible for several poorly understood phenomena that occur with the application of 3D fields in tokamaks, including density pump out and the increase in power required to transition from L- to H-mode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first observation of increased electron temperature turbulence during edge localized mode (ELM) suppression by resonant magnetic perturbations (RMPs) is presented. These are long wavelength fluctuations (kθρs ⩽ 0.2, where kθ=poloidal wavenumber and ρs=ion sound gyroradius) observed during H-mode plasmas on the DIII-D. This increase occurs only after ELMs are suppressed and are not observed during the initial RMP application. The ∼ Te=Te increases (>60%) are coincident with changes in normalized density and electron temperature gradients in the region from the top of the pedestal outward to the upper portion of the steep edge gradient. Density turbulence (kθρs ⩽ 0.4) in this location was also observed to increase only after ELM suppression. These results are significant since they indicate that increased gradient-driven turbulent transport is one possible mechanism to regulate and maintain ELM-free H-mode operation. Investigation of linear stability of drift wave instabilities using the CGYRO code [Candy et al., J. Comput. Phys. 324, 73 (2016)] shows that the dominant mode moves closer to the electron mode branch from the ion mode branch only after ELMs are suppressed, correlated with the increased turbulence. The increased turbulence during ELM suppression, rather than with the initial RMP application, indicates that the often observed RMP induced "density pump-out" cannot be attributed to long wavelength edge turbulence level changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experiments have been executed in the DIII-D tokamak to extend suppression of Edge Localized Modes (ELMs) with Resonant Magnetic Perturbations (RMPs) to ITER-relevant levels of beam torque. The results support the hypothesis for RMP ELM suppression based on transition from an ideal screened response to a tearing response at a resonant surface that prevents expansion of the pedestal to an unstable width [Snyder et al., Nucl. Fusion 51, 103016 (2011) and Wade et al., Nucl. Fusion 55, 023002 (2015)]. In ITER baseline plasmas with I/aB = 1.4 and pedestal ν* ~ 0.15, ELMs are readily suppressed with co-Ip neutral beam injection. However, reducing the beam torque from 5 Nm to ≤ 3.5 Nm results in loss of ELM suppression and a shift in the zero-crossing of the electron perpendicular rotation ω⊥e ~ 0 deeper into the plasma. The change in radius of ω⊥e ~ 0 is due primarily to changes to the electron diamagnetic rotation frequency ωe*. Linear plasma response modeling with the resistive MHD code m3d-c1 indicates that the tearing response location tracks the inward shift in ω⊥e ~ 0. At pedestal ν* ~ 1, ELM suppression is also lost when the beam torque is reduced, but the ω⊥e change is dominated by collapse of the toroidal rotation vT. The hypothesis predicts that it should be possible to obtain ELM suppression at reduced beam torque by also reducing the height and width of the ωe* profile. This prediction has been confirmed experimentally with RMP ELM suppression at 0 Nm of beam torque and plasma normalized pressure βN ~ 0.7. This opens the possibility of accessing ELM suppression in low torque ITER baseline plasmas by establishing suppression at low beta and then increasing beta while relying on the strong RMP-island coupling to maintain suppression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The geodesic acoustic mode (GAM), a coherent form of the zonal flow, plays a critical role in turbulence regulation and cross-magnetic-field transport. In the DIII-D tokamak, unique information on multi-field characteristics and radial structure of eigenmode GAMs has been measured. Two simultaneous and distinct, radially overlapping eigenmode GAMs (i.e., constant frequency vs. radius) have been observed in the poloidal E×B flow in L-mode plasmas. As the plasma transitions from an L-mode to an Ohmic regime, one of these eigenmode GAMs becomes a continuum GAM (frequency responds to local parameters), while the second decays below the noise level. The eigenmode GAMs occupy a radial range of ρ = 0.6-0.8 and 0.75-0.95, respectively. In addition, oscillations at the GAM frequency are observed for the first time in multiple plasma parameters, including ne, Te, and Bθ. The magnitude of Te/Te at the GAM frequency (the magnitude is similar to that of ñe/ne) and measured ne-Te cross-phase (∼140° at the GAM frequency) together indicate that the GAM pressure perturbation is not determined solely by ñe. The magnetic GAM behavior, a feature only rarely reported, is significantly stronger (×18) on the high-field side of the tokamak, suggesting an anti-ballooning nature. Finally, the GAM is also observed to directly modify intermediate-wavenumber ñe levels (kρs ∼ 1.1). The simultaneous temperature, density, flow fluctuations, density-temperature cross-phase, and magnetic behavior present a new perspective on the underlying physics of the GAM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate measurement of internal magnetic field direction using motional Stark effect (MSE) polarimetry in the edge pedestal is desired for nearly all tokamak scenario work. A newly installed 500 kHz 32-channel digitizer on the MSE diagnostic of DIII-D allows full spectral information of the polarimeter signal to be recovered for the first time. Fourier analysis of this data has revealed magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) fluctuations in the plasma edge pedestal at ρ >= 0.92. By correlating edge localized mode fluctuations seen on lock-in amplifier outputs with MSE spectrograms, it has been shown that edge pedestal tearing mode fluctuations cause interference with MSE second harmonic instrument frequencies. This interference results in unrecoverable errors in the real-time polarization angle measurement that are more than an order of magnitude larger than typical polarimeter uncertainties. These errors can cause as much as a 38% difference in local q. By using a redundant measure of the linear polarization found at the fourth harmonic photo-elastic modulator (PEM) frequency, MHD interference can be avoided. However, because of poorer signal-to-noise the fourth harmonic signal computed polarization angle shows no improvement over the MHD polluted second harmonics. MHD interference could be avoided in future edge pedestal tokamak polarimeters by utilizing PEMs with higher fundamental frequencies and a greater separation between their frequencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reversed shear Alfvén eigenmodes (RSAE) that were observed in the Joint European Torus (JET) [P. H. Rebut and B. E. Keen, Fusion Technol.11, 13 (1987)] and DIII-D [J. L. Luxon, Nucl. Fusion42, 614 (2002)] are studied with the ideal magnetohydrodynamic code NOVA-K [C. Z. Cheng, Phys. Rep.211, 1 (1992)]. It was found that the frequency behavior of the RSAEs can be described accurately by the NOVA-K code when plasma compressibility effects and toroidal plasma rotation are taken into account. For the mode activity on JET, the calculated drive exceeds the mode damping rate, consistent with experimental observations, while on DIII-D the growth rate from neutral beam ions for modes with high toroidal mode numbers is insufficient to account for the excitation of the modes and a major part of the drive comes from the background plasma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A low amplitude (δbr/BT=1 part in 5000) edge resonant magnetic field perturbation with toroidal mode number n=3 and poloidal mode numbers between 8 and 15 has been used to suppress most large type I edge localized modes (ELMs) without degrading core plasma confinement. ELMs have been suppressed for periods of up to 8.6 energy confinement times when the edge safety factor q95 is between 3.5 and 4. The large ELMs are replaced by packets of events (possibly type II ELMs) with small amplitude, narrow radial extent, and a higher level of magnetic field and density fluctuations, creating a duty cycle with long “active” intervals of high transport and short “quiet” intervals of low transport. The increased transport associated with these events is less impulsive and slows the recovery of the pedestal profiles to the values reached just before the large ELMs without the n=3 perturbation. Changing the toroidal phase of the perturbation by 60° with respect to the best ELM suppression case reduces the ELM amplitude and frequency by factors of 2–3 in the divertor, produces a more stochastic response in the H-mode pedestal profiles, and displays similar increases in small scale events, although significant numbers of large ELMs survive. In contrast to the best ELM suppression case where the type I ELMs are also suppressed on the outboard midplane, the midplane recycling increases until individual ELMs are no longer discernable. The ELM response depends on the toroidal phase of the applied perturbation because intrinsic error fields make the target plasma nonaxisymmetric, and suggests that at least some of the variation in ELM behavior in a single device or among different devices is due to differences in the intrinsic error fields in these devices. These results indicate that ELMs can be suppressed by small edge resonant magnetic field perturbations. Extrapolation to next-step burning plasma devices will require extending the regime of operation to lower collisionality and understanding the physical mechanism responsible for the ELM suppression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polarimetry is a powerful diagnostic technique to probe plasma equilibria and magnetic fluctuations in fusion plasmas. In a high beta plasma such as the National Spherical Torus eXperiment (NSTX), these measurements are important to understand plasma stability and anomalous transport. A 288 GHz polarimeter operating along a major radial chord in retroreflection geometry has been developed and is being tested on the DIII-D tokamak to prepare for future implementation on NSTX-Upgrade. The system launches a rotating linearly polarized beam and detects the phase shift directly related to the polarization change caused by the plasma. To accomplish this, a pair of orthogonal linearly polarized beams with a stable difference frequency is generated using a single sideband modulation technique, then combined and transformed to be counter-rotating circularly polarized. To improve phase resolution, quasi-optical isolation, using Faraday rotators and polarizers, is utilized to eliminate a multi-path feedback effect, which is found to be the primary source of phase error. The bench tests in the laboratory and DIII-D power supply test discharges indicate ≤1° phase resolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid bifurcations in the plasma response to slowly varying n = 2 magnetic fields are observed as the plasma transitions into and out of edge-localized mode (ELM) suppression. The rapid transition to ELM suppression is characterized by an increase in the toroidal rotation and a reduction in the electron pressure gradient at the top of the pedestal that reduces the perpendicular electron flow there to near zero. These events occur simultaneously with an increase in the inner-wall magnetic response. These observations are consistent with strong resonant field penetration of n = 2 fields at the onset of ELM suppression, based on extended MHD simulations using measured plasma profiles. Spontaneous transitions into (and out of) ELM suppression with a static applied n = 2 field indicate competing mechanisms of screening and penetration of resonant fields near threshold conditions. Magnetic measurements reveal evidence for the unlocking and rotation of tearinglike structures as the plasma transitions out of ELM suppression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]