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The specific size and structure of the edge current profile has important effects on the magnetohydrodynamic stability and ultimate performance of many advanced tokamak (AT) operating modes. This is true for both bootstrap and externally driven currents that may be used to tailor the edge shear. Absent a direct local measurement of j(r), the best alternative is a determination of the poloidal field. Measurements of the precision (0.1°–0.01° in magnetic pitch angle and 1–10 ms) necessary to address issues of stability and control and provide constraints for EFIT are difficult to do in the region of interest (ρ=0.9–1.1). Using Zeeman polarization spectroscopy of the 2S–2P lithium resonance line emission from the DIII-D LIBEAM [D. M. Thomas, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 66, 806 (1995); D. M. Thomas, A. W. Hyatt, and M. P. Thomas, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 61, 340 (1990)] measurements of the various field components may be made to the necessary precision in exactly the region of interest to these studies. Because of the negligible Stark mixing of the relevant atomic levels, this method of determining j(r) is insensitive to the large local electric fields typically found in enhanced confinement (H mode) edges, and thus avoids an ambiguity common to motional Stark effect measurements of B. Key issues for utilizing this technique include good beam quality, an optimum viewing geometry, and a suitable optical prefilter to isolate the polarized emission line. A prospective diagnostic system for the DIII-D AT program will be described. © 2001 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the impurity-induced turbulence suppression and reduced transport in the DIII-D tokamak. Effect of neon seeding of a low confinement mode negative central shear discharge; Use of beam emission spectroscopy; Reduction in growth rate of ion temperature gradient driven modes.

The amplitude and frequency of modes driven in the edge region of tokamak high mode (H-mode) discharges [type I edge-localized modes (ELMs)] are shown to depend on the discharge shape. The measured pressure gradient threshold for instability and its scaling with discharge shape are compared with predictions from ideal magnetohydrodynamic theory for low toroidal mode number (n) instabilities driven by pressure gradient and current density and good agreement is found. Reductions in mode amplitude are observed in discharge shapes with either high squareness or low triangularity where the stability threshold in the edge pressure gradient is predicted to be reduced and the most unstable mode is expected to have higher values of n. The importance of access to the ballooning mode second stability regime is demonstrated through the changes in the ELM character that occur when second regime access is not available. An edge stability model is presented that predicts that there is a threshold value of n for second regime access and that the most unstable mode has n near this threshold. © 2000 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One promising approach to maintaining stability of high beta tokamak plasmas is the use of a conducting wall near the plasma to stabilize low-n ideal magnetohydrodynamic instabilities. However, with a resistive wall, either plasma rotation or active feedback control is required to stabilize the more slowly growing resistive wall modes (RWMs). Previous experiments have demonstrated that plasmas with a nearby conducting wall can remain stable to the n=1 ideal external kink above the beta limit predicted with the wall at infinity. Recently, extension of the wall stabilized lifetime τL to more than 30 times the resistive wall time constant τw and detailed, reproducible observation of the n=1 RWM have been possible in DIII-D [Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion Research (International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, 1986), p. 159] plasmas above the no-wall beta limit. The DIII-D measurements confirm characteristics common to several RWM theories. The mode is destabilized as the plasma rotation at the q=3 surface decreases below a critical frequency of 1?7 kHz (˜1% of the toroidal Alfvén frequency). The measured mode growth times of 2?8 ms agree with measurements and numerical calculations of the dominant DIII-D vessel eigenmode time constant τw . From its onset, the RWM has little or no toroidalrotation (ωmode≤τw-1«ωplasma), and rapidly reduces the plasma rotation to zero. These slowly growing RWMs can in principle be destabilized using external coils controlled by a feedback loop. In this paper, the encouraging results from the first open loop experimental tests of active control of the RWM, conducted in DIII-D, are reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In DIII-D [J. L. Luxon and L. G. Davis, Fusion Technol. 8, 441 (1985)] tokamak plasmas with an internal transport barrier (ITB), the comparison of gyrokinetic linear stability (GKS) predictions with experiments in both low and strong negative magnetic shear plasmas provide improvedunderstanding for electron thermal transport within the plasma. Within a limited region just inside the ITB, the electron temperature gradient (ETG) modes appear to control the electron temperature gradient and, consequently, the electron thermal transport. The increase in the electron temperature gradient with more strongly negative magnetic shear is consistent with the increase in the ETG mode marginal gradient. Closer to the magnetic axis the T3 profile flattens and the ETG modes are predicted to be stable. With additional core electron heating, FIR scattering measurements near the axis show the presence of high k fluctuations (12 cm-1), rotating in the electron diamagnetic drift direction. This turbulence could impact electron transport and possibly also ion transport. Thermal diffusivities for electrons, and to a lesser degree ions, increase. The ETG mode can exist at this wave number, but it is computed to be robustly stable near the axis. Consequently, in the plasmas we have examined, calculations of drift wave linear stability do not explain the observed transport near the axis in plasmas with or without additional electron heating, and there are probably other processes controling transport in this region.. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines high-performance negative central magnetic shear discharges in the DIII-D tokamak. Increases in plasma performance and reactivity resulting from reliable operation of discharges; Noninductive current ranges in the discharges; Toroidal rotation and ion temperature profiles.

A far-infrared polarimeter diagnostic has been added to an existing fifteen chord interferometer on the Microwave Tokamak Experiment (MTX). The polarimeter utilizes a new technique for determination of the Faraday rotation angle based on phase measurements of a rotating polarization ellipse. This technique allows the rotation angle to be determined even in the presence of signal amplitude variations caused by refraction. The implementation of this instrument requires no new detectors and minimal optics, making it quite inexpensive to add on to existing multichord interferometers. The MTX polarimeter has been operating for about a year and has achieved a resolution of ≤0.2° with a bandwidth of ...1 kHz and a chord spacing of 1.5 cm. Typical Faraday rotation angles on MTX are in the range of 5°-15°. To obtain the poloidal field, the line-integrated density and Faraday rotation profiles are inverted in a manner consistent with the Grad-Shafranov equilibrium to first order in the inverse aspect-ratio expansion. Profile measurements during normal ohmic operation are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the microwave tokamak experiment (MTX) program, we are concentrating on experiments using intense, free-electron laser (FEL) generated microwave pulses. In initial FEL experiments, several diagnostic instruments were operated during injection of microwave pulses with peak powers to 0.2 GW at durations of 10 ns. Fixed and spatially scanning microwave detectors and receivers and a 48-element calorimeter on the inside walt of MTX diagnosed the GW-level FEL microwave pulses. With these diagnostics, linear-wave absorption and efficiencies of transmission through the quasi-optical transport system were studied. In addition, several radially resolved measurements of plasma density, temperature, and emission were made during FEL injection and were used in the analysis of microwave absorption data. A timing system, slaved to the FEL pulse arrival time, is capable of accuracy to a few nanoseconds in order to allow measurement of heating effects on the time scale of a single FEL pulse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sawtooth phenomena have been studied on DIII-D and the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) [D. Meade and the TFTR Group, in Proceedings of the International Conference on Plasma Physics and Controlled Nuclear Fusion, Washington, DC, 1990 (International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, 1991), Vol. 1, pp. 9-24]. In the experiments the sawtooth characteristics were studied with fast electron temperature (ECE) and soft x-ray diagnostics. For the first time, measurements of a strong ballistic electron heat pulse were made in a shaped tokamak (DIII-D) [J. Luxon and DIII-D Group, in Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Plasma Physics and Controlled Nuclear Fusion Research, Kyoto (International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, 1987), Vol. 1, p. 159] and the "ballistic effect" was stronger than was previously reported on TFTR. Evidence is presented in this paper that the ballistic effect is related to the fast growth phase of the sawtooth precursor. Fast, 2 ms interval, measurements on DIII-D were made of the ion temperature evolution following sawteeth and partial sawteeth to document the ion heat pulse characteristics. It is found that the ion heat pulse does not exhibit the very fast, "ballistic" behavior seen for the electrons. Further, for the first time it is shown that the electron heat pulses from partial sawtooth crashes (on DIII-D and TFTR) are seen to propagate at speeds close to those expected from the power balance calculations of the thermal diffusivities whereas heat pulses from fishbones propagate at rates more consistent with sawtooth induced heat pulses. These results suggest that the fast propagation of sawtooth-induced heat pulses is not a feature of nonlinear transport models, but that magnetohydrodynamic events can have a strong effect on electron thermal transport. © 2000 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]