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The detachment regime has a high potential to play an important role in fusion devices on the road to a fusion power plant. Complete power detachment has been observed several times during the experimental campaigns of the Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) stellarator. Automatic observation and signaling of such events could help scientists to better understand these phenomena. With the growing discharge times in fusion devices, machine learning models and algorithms are a powerful tool to process the increasing amount of data. We investigate several classical supervised machine learning models to detect complete power detachment in the images captured by the Event Detection Intelligent Camera System (EDICAM) at the W7-X at each given image frame. In the dedicated detached state the plasma is stable despite its reduced contact with the machine walls and the radiation belt stays close to the separatrix, without exhibiting significant heat load onto the divertor. To decrease computational time and resources needed we propose certain pixel intensity profiles (or intensity values along lines) as the input to these models. After finding the profile that describes the images best in terms of detachment, we choose the best performing machine learning algorithm. It achieves an F1 score of 0.9836 on the training dataset and 0.9335 on the test set. Furthermore, we investigate its predictions in other scenarios, such as plasmas with substantially decreased minor radius and several magnetic configurations.

The third harmonic extraordinary (X3) mode of electron cyclotron emission is investigated, aiming at its diagnostic capability towards the measurement of electron temperature, T e , of plasmas with higher densities exceeding the second harmonic extraordinary (X2) mode cutoff. A Bayesian data-analysis approach is adopted through the forward modeling of the X3 emission observations to extract the underlying T e profile. Bayesian analysis shows that the high field side of the X3 emission spectrum is sufficient to provide the T e profile. Additionally, for plasma control purposes, a correction factor is provided to track continuous core T e from the measured radiation temperature of the optically grey X3 emission.

To support the scenario design for the upcoming long-pulse high-performance campaign of Wendelstein 7-X, this work presents a study of high-beta full-field 3D equilibria obtained with the HINT code. For three magnetic configurations of different edge-ι, the effects of both overall pressure and pressure profile changes on the magnetic topology are analyzed. Anisotropic diffusion modeling is used to obtain estimates of the conductive heat load distribution both on the divertor and other plasma-facing components in finite-beta magnetic configurations. For the magnetic standard configuration, limitations of the model are outlined by comparing measured and predicted heatloads by performing a linear regression of the main strike-line position against various plasma parameters in both the experimental and the simulated device.

One set of horizontal target elements of the Test Divertor Units (TDU), retrieved from the Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) vessel after the end of second divertor Operation Phase (OP1.2B) in Hydrogen (H), were investigated by picosecond Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (ps-LIBS). The Boron (B) distribution, H pattern and the material erosion/deposition pattern on these target elements were analyzed with high depth resolution and mapped in the poloidal direction of W7-X. From the spectroscopic analysis, B, H, Carbon (C) and Molybdenum (Mo) were clearly identified. A non-uniformly distributed B pattern on these divertor target elements was determined by the combination of B layer deposition during the three boronizations and W7-X plasma operation with multiple erosion and deposition steps of B. Like the TDU, the analyzed target elements are made of fine grain graphite, but have two marker layers which allow us to determine the material migration via the ps-LIBS technique. Two net erosion zones including one main erosion zone with a peak erosion depth of 6.5 μm and one weak erosion with a peak erosion of 1.3 μm were determined. Between two net erosion zones, a net deposition zone with width of 135 mm and a thickness up to 3.5 μm at the peak deposition location was determined by the ps-LIBS technique. The B distributions are correlated with the erosion/deposition pattern and the operational time in standard magnetic configuration of W7-X in the phases after the boronizations. The thickness of the containing B layer on these target elements also correlates with the erosion/deposition depth, in which the thickness of the containing B layer varies spatially in poloidal direction between 0.1 μm and 6 μm. Complementary, Focused Ion Beam combined with Scanning Electron Microscopy (FIB-SEM) was employed also to verify and investigate the deposition layer thicknesses at typical net erosion and net deposition zones as well as to identify the three boronizations in depth.

Impurity temperatures have been determined by a spectroscopic line shape analysis for several species in the divertor scrape-off-layer of the stellarator Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X). Examples include spectral lines from intrinsic elements (C II and C III, He I) as well as from seeded impurities (Ar II, N II) through the divertor gas inlet system. Both Doppler broadening and Zeeman splitting are found to contribute significantly to the impurity line shapes. Zeeman splitting arises due to the confining magnetic field in W7-X and complicates the line shape appearance. By attributing Doppler widths to each of the various Zeeman components, however, we demonstrate that reliable ion temperature values can be derived provided that the presence of the magnetic field is properly accounted for. The spectrally highly resolved lines are analyzed by means of a multi-parameter, least-squares fit routine, which accounts for Doppler broadening, Zeeman splitting, as well as the instrumental broadening of the spectrometer used to measure the spectral line shapes. By spectral fitting of the Zeeman features, it is also found that the line shape analysis can yield values for the local magnetic field, which can be used to localize the impurity radiation approximately provided that the line emission is dominant in a small area intersected by the lines of sight of the spectrometer.

The optimized superconducting stellarator Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) is equipped with an island divertor for energy control and efficient pumping. We investigated the performance of the island divertor in terms of gas exhaust. For this purpose we have installed 18 pressure gauges in the vacuum vessel. This allowed us to determine the exhaust efficiency, the leakage, the collection efficiency and the compression ratio of the island divertor. These quantities depended strongly on the magnetic configuration. The best performance was obtained in the high-iota configuration. The exhaust efficiency was 2.9%, significantly higher than in the standard configuration (0.44%), and the maximum neutral compression was about 80. The high-iota configuration appears particularly promising for long-pulse operation of W7-X.

A universal energy partition mechanism between ions and electrons has been confirmed to exist in the scrape-off layer of both the WEST tokamak and the W7-X stellarator. A peaked plasma density structure induced by an infinite magnetic connection length structure is observed to destroy this dependence and enhance the local ion and electron temperature ratio in the stellarator. A theoretical analysis reveals that the ratio of ion and electron parallel heat conduction is predominant in determining this universality, while electrons would further be cooled in the density-peaked region.

Dispersion interferometry (DI) is being employed on an increasing number of fusion experiments to measure the plasma density with a minimal sensitivity to vibrations. DIs employed in high-density experiments use phase modulation techniques up to several hundred kilohertz to enable quadrature detection and to be unaffected by variations of the signal amplitude. However, the evaluation of the temporal interferogram can be a significant source for phase errors and does not have an established processing method. There are two non-approximation-based methods currently in use: one using the ratio of amplitudes in the signal’s Fourier spectrum and the other using its sectioned integration. Previously, the methods could not be used simultaneously since they differ in their respective calibration point. In this paper, we present a technique to use both phase evaluation methods simultaneously using quadrature correction methods. A comparison of their strengths and weaknesses is presented based on identical measurements indicating one to be more reliable in a more static measurement scenario, while the other excels in highly dynamic ones. Several comparative experiments are presented, which identify a significant error source in the phase measurement induced by polarization rotation. Since the same effect may be induced by Faraday rotation, the results may have direct consequence on the design of the ITER dispersion interferometer/polarimeter as well as the European DEMO’s interferometer concept.

In electron (cyclotron) heated plasmas, in both ASDEX Upgrade (L-mode) and Wendelstein 7-X, clamping of the ion temperature occurs at T i ∼ 1.5 keV independent of magnetic configuration. The ions in such plasmas are heated through the energy exchange power as n e 2 ( T e − T i ) / T e 3 / 2 , which offers a broad ion heating profile, similar to that offered by alpha heating in future thermonuclear fusion reactors. However, the predominant electron heating may put an additional constraint on the ion heat transport, as the ratio T e/T i > 1 can exacerbates ITG/TEM core turbulence. Therefore, in practical terms the strongly ‘stiff’ core transport translates into T i-clamping in electron heated plasmas. Due to this clamping, electron heated L-mode scenarios, with standard gas fueling, in either tokamaks or stellarators may struggle to reach high normalized ion temperature gradients required in a compact fusion reactor. The comparison shows that core heat transport in neoclassically optimized stellarators is driven by the same mechanisms as in tokamaks. The absence of a strong H-mode temperature edge pedestal in stellarators, sofar (which, like in tokamaks, could lift the clamped temperature-gradients in the core), puts a strong requirement on reliable and sustainable core turbulence suppression techniques in stellarators.

Sawtooth-like crashes were observed during electron cyclotron current drive experiments for strikeline controls at the optimised superconducting stellarator Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X). The majority of the crashes did not have a relevant impact on plasma performance. However, a limited number of events, characterised by a large plasma volume affected by the instability, have been related to a strong deterioration performance and even to the premature termination of the plasma. The hot plasma core expelled during these sawtooth crashes can reach the plasma edge, where plasma surface interaction can occur and impurities can be released. The x-ray tomography shows a strong radiation increase starting from the edge and moving towards the inner plasma regions. This results in the cooling down and shrinking of the plasma, which eventually leads to a poor coupling of the ECRH to the electrons, that can in turn result in a plasma loss. A relation between the size and amplitude of the sawtooth crashes and the impurity increase is reported.

In this study, we present the design of a new charge exchange recombination spectroscopy (CXRS) system for Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X), which aims at measuring line radiation from highly ionized iron impurities after laser blow off injections over transport timescales. New fiber bundles with a core diameter of 600 µm have been added to one of the existing optical systems at W7-X used for CXRS. The fibers direct collected light to five newly developed single channel high frame rate F/2.8 spectrometers. The new custom-made spectrometers are built using entirely off-the-shelf and 3D printed components, and employ a round-to-linear fiber bundle, instead of an entrance slit, to maximize light throughput. The detector is an ultra-low readout noise EM-CCD camera capable of frame rates of up to 10 000 fps for about 500 consecutive frames when operated using a single readout channel. Such high frame rates will enable the study of inward convection of injected impurities. An initial sensitivity study is performed using a newly developed Markov chain Monte Carlo approach based on the pySTRAHL impurity transport code. This study indicates that, with the addition of the new CX diagnostic, impurity convection velocities can be inferred.

Distributions of deposits and hydrogen (H) on the graphite divertor target elements TM4h4 and TM3v5 in the test divertor units 3 (TDUs3) of Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) are studied. The TM4h4 and TM3v5 are located at the magnetically symmetric positions in the upper and lower divertor. The microstructure of the deposition layer is characterized by a transmission electron microscope (TEM) combined with a focused ion beam (FIB). Metallic deposits such as iron (Fe), molybdenum (Mo), chromium (Cr) are detected in the deposition layer by energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The depth-resolved distribution patterns of boron (B) and metallic deposits on upper and lower horizontal (h) divertor target elements TDUs3-TM4h4 as well as upper and lower vertical (v) divertor target elements TDUs3-TM3v5 are clarified by glow discharge optical emission spectrometry (GDOES). Results for both TDUs3-TM4h4 and TDUs3-TM3v5 show that the B deposition regions exhibit higher H retention due to the co-deposition with deposits. On the other hand, up-down asymmetries in B deposition caused by particle drift exist on both TDUs3-TM4h4 and TDUs3-TM3v5. The B deposition amount on upper TDUs3-TM4h4 is 40% smaller than that on lower TDUs3-TM4h4. While for the vertical target elements, the B deposition amount on upper TDUs3-TM3v5 is 35% larger than that on lower TDUs3-TM3v5. Meanwhile, a shift of around 3 cm in B deposition peaks is observed on upper and lower TDUs3-TM4h4 and TDUs3-TM3v5. Results of numerical simulation of carbon deposition/erosion profiles on the target elements using ERO2.0 code and power flux measured by infrared cameras are shown and compared with the above mentioned B profiles.

To support the planning of high-performance long-pulse plasma operation for W7-X, the role of equilibrium effects for the structure of island divertor and its profound impacts on the divertor heat flux distribution have been investigated. Finite-beta full-field three-dimensional equilibria for the four most important configurations of W7-X (‘standard’, ‘high-mirror’, ‘high-iota’ and ‘low-iota’) were obtained with the HINT code. Equilibrium calculations show a strong dependence of the edge stochastization on the magnetic configurations. Parameterization to estimate equilibrium effects on edge stochastization and plasma shape was attempted for individual functions. The results indicate that a more stochastic boundary can be attained with increasing plasma beta, except for the low-iota configuration. According to fully diffusive heat-load estimations, it turns out that equilibrium effects are beneficial for spreading the heat flux on the divertor target. The interactions of the beta effects with effects driven by the toroidal plasma current are also analyzed for the standard configuration. Infrared camera measurements confirm the predictions concerning global heat load distributions.

The initial operation of neutral beams in Wendelstein 7-X enabled the first measurements of carbon (C6+) temperature and rotation with a multi-chord charge exchange recombination spectroscopy system. In this article we analyse the velocity measurements obtained with this system to infer the profiles of radial electric field, E r, and net parallel velocity of fully stripped carbon ions, V ‖. We include a general treatment of the flow geometry and the velocity corrections due to the energy dependence of the charge exchange cross section. The inverted profiles are compared with neoclassical calculations for various plasma conditions and two magnetic configurations. It is found that both the E r and V ‖ experimental profiles agree in sign and order of magnitude with the neoclassical expectations and reproduce the expected dependencies on plasma parameters and magnetic configuration, within the reduced dataset presented. However, quantitative differences with respect to the neoclassical profiles are observed above the estimated errors in various conditions.

Electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) is a powerful and flexible plasma heating technique that serves as the main heater at Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) and will be used at ITER for start-up, heating, current drive and mitigation of plasma instabilities. In the case of poor or degraded microwave absorption, which is expected in the O2-mode heating scenario, a significant part of the beam directly hits the wall, leading to local overheating and potential damage. The ECRH shine-through power is mostly reflected onto the targets; only a small fraction is really absorbed through ohmic losses (typically 3% for graphite at 140 GHz). The ohmic losses do not only depend on the material properties and the frequency, but also on the polarization of the wave and the angle of incidence. This paper presents a thermographic analysis of ECRH experiments at W7-X, including heat load and temperature simulations of the first wall that include ECRH shine through. Two O-mode ECRH experiments with both a high temperature rise of the first wall and different angles of beam incidence on the wall’s surface are depicted. One experiment has 775 kW of power modulation (5 Hz) with mixed polarization (45% O-mode, 55% X-mode) and an EC beam angle almost normal to the first wall. The second has 550 kW of steady EC power with O-mode polarization, a shallow beam angle and increased power absorption by the material. It is shown that infrared thermography is a useful tool for measuring shine-through power and protecting wall components.

In magnetic confinement fusion research, the achievement of high plasma pressure is key to reaching the goal of net energy production. The magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model is used to self-consistently calculate the effects the plasma pressure induces on the magnetic field used to confine the plasma. Such MHD calculations—usually done computationally—serve as input for the assessment of a number of important physics questions. The variational moments equilibrium code (VMEC) is the most widely used to evaluate 3D ideal-MHD equilibria, as prominently present in stellarators. However, considering the computational cost, it is rarely used in large-scale or online applications (e.g. Bayesian scientific modeling, real-time plasma control). Access to fast MHD equilibria is a challenging problem in fusion research, one which machine learning could effectively address. In this paper, we present artificial neural network (NN) models able to quickly compute the equilibrium magnetic field of Wendelstein 7-X. Magnetic configurations that extensively cover the device operational space, and plasma profiles with volume-averaged normalized plasma pressure ⟨β⟩ (β = $\frac{2{\mu }_{0}p}{{B}^{2}}$) up to 5% and non-zero net toroidal current are included in the data set. By using convolutional layers, the spectral representation of the magnetic flux surfaces can be efficiently computed with a single network. To discover better models, a Bayesian hyper-parameter search is carried out, and 3D convolutional NNs are found to outperform feed-forward fully-connected NNs. The achieved normalized root-mean-squared error, the ratio between the regression error and the spread of the data, ranges from 1% to 20% across the different scenarios. The model inference time for a single equilibrium is on the order of milliseconds. Finally, this work shows the feasibility of a fast NN drop-in surrogate model for VMEC, and it opens up new operational scenarios where target applications could make use of magnetic equilibria at unprecedented scales.

Pulsed injections of boron carbide granules into Wendelstein 7-X stellarator (W7-X) plasmas transiently increase the plasma stored energy and core ion temperatures above the reference W7-X experimental programs by up to 30%. In a series of 4 MW electron cyclotron resonance heating experiments, the PPPL Probe Mounted Powder Injector provided 50 ms bursts of 100 μm granules every 350 ms at estimated quantities ranging from approximately 1 mg/pulse to over 30 mg/pulse. For each injection, the stored energy was observed to initially drop and the radiated power transiently increased, while the radial electron density profile rose at the edge as material was assimilated. Once the injected boron carbide was fully absorbed, the density rise transitioned to the core while the stored energy increased above the previous baseline level by an amount linearly correlated with the injection quantity. During the injection, the ion temperature gradient steepened with peak core ion temperatures observed to increase from a nominal 1.7 keV to over 2.6 keV for the largest injection amounts. Enhanced performance is accompanied by a reversal of the radial electric field at ρ < 0.3, indicating that the core transport has switched to the ion root. These observations are suggestive of a change in transport and provide further evidence that externally induced profile modifications provide a possible path to enhanced W7-X performance metrics.I. INTRODUCTIO

Investigations of particle parallel flow velocities have been carried out for the scrape-off layer (SOL) of the Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) stellarator, in order to gain insights on the SOL transport properties during attached and detached plasma scenarios. The experimental evidence is based on the coherence imaging spectroscopy (CIS) diagnostic, able to measure 2D impurity emission intensity and flow velocity. The impurity monitored by CIS is C2+, characterized by a line-emission intensity observed to be linearly proportional to the total plasma radiated power in both attached and detached plasmas. The related C2+ velocity shows a strong dependence on the line-averaged electron density while remaining insensitive to the input power. During attached plasmas, the velocity increases with increasing line-averaged density. The tendency reverses in the transition to and during detachment, in which the velocity decreases by at least a factor of 2. The sharp drop in velocity, together with a rise in line-emission intensity, is reliably correlated to the detachment transition and can therefore be used as one of its signatures. The impurity flow velocity appears to be well coupled with the main ions’ one, thus implying the dominant role of impurity-main ion friction in the parallelimpurity transport dynamics. In view of this SOL impurity transport regime, the CIS measurement results are here interpreted with the help of EMC3-Eirene simulations, and their major trends are already explainable with a simple 1D fluid model.

A method is presented for the swift reconstruction of electron density profiles measured by the alkali beam emission spectroscopy. It is based on the linearization of the governing rate equations and leads to a direct calculation for obtaining the profiles. The uncertainties of the measurement are incorporated into the problem through the utilization of Tikhonov regularization and the generalized least squares method. An approximation for the uncertainty of the reconstructed density data is calculated as well. The applicability of the method is tested against both simulated and real experimental results of the W7-X stellarator.

The W7-X stellarator has so far performed experiments under both limiter and divertor conditions. The plasma is mostly generated by ECR-heating with powers up to 6.5 MW, and the plasma density is usually limited by the radiation losses from low-Z impurities (such as carbon and oxygen) released mainly from the graphite targets. The present work first summarizes the radiation loss fractions f rad achieved in quasi-stationary hydrogen plasmas in both operational phases, and then shows how impurity radiation behaves differently with the two different boundary conditions as the plasma density increases. The divertor operation is emphasized and some beneficial effects (with respect to impurity radiation) are highlighted: (1) intensive radiation is located at the edge (r/a > 0.8) even at high radiation loss fractions, (2) the plasma remains stable up to f rad approaching unity, (3) the reduction in the stored energy is about 10% for high f rad scenarios. Moreover, effects of wall boronisation on impurity radiation profiles are also presented.

A good understanding of the confinement of energetic ions in non-axisymmetric magnetic fields is key for the design of reactors based on the stellarator concept. In this work, we develop a model that, based on the radially-local bounce-averaged drift-kinetic equation, classifies orbits and succeeds in predicting configuration-dependent aspects of the prompt losses of energetic ions in stellarators. Such a model could in turn be employed in the optimization stage of the design of new devices.

The optimized stellarator Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) is designed to have an approximately quasi-isodynamic magnetic configuration with reduced neoclassical transport in comparison to a classical stellarator, and turbulent transport is expected to be a significant source of anomalous heat transport across the plasma minor radius. The ion temperature gradient driven mode and the trapped electron mode (TEM) are thought to be responsible for the ion-scale turbulence in W7-X plasmas with volume averaged pressure below 1%. In this work, the electron temperature gradient driven turbulence is shown to be a good candidate for the explanation of the observed electron heat flux, in the inner plasma region where the density gradient is weak (in the outer region, a relatively stronger density gradient would drive additional TEM turbulence). The experimental electron heat transport measured during electron cyclotron resonant heating power and plasma density scans is compared to neoclassical predictions, and the stiffness in the electron heat transport measured during transient transport experiments is presented in three common magnetic configurations of W7-X. In low-⟨β⟩ plasma discharges, the stiffness in the electron heat flux, quantified by the ratio of the heat pulse to power balance diffusivity, χ e H P / χ e P B , is measured to be less than 2, and trend downwards with increasing collisionality.

The effect of magnetic islands on plasma flow and turbulence has been experimentally investigated in the stellarator W7-X. Magnetic configurations with the 5/5 magnetic island positioned at the plasma edge, inside the last closed flux surface, are studied. The main diagnostic used in the present work is a V-band Doppler reflectometer that allows the measurement of the perpendicular plasma flow and density fluctuations with good spatial resolution. A characteristic signature of the 5/5 magnetic island is clearly detected in the perpendicular flow profile. The comparison of the experimental flow and the neoclassically driven E × B flow indicates that the island contribution to the flow is maximum at the island boundaries and close to zero at the island O-point. Besides, a reduction in the density fluctuation level is found nearby the island O-point. The similarities between these observations and those found in other devices and in gyrokinetic simulations are discussed.

In this work, a new version of KNOSOS is presented. KNOSOS is a low-collisionality radially-local, bounce-averaged neoclassical code that is extremely fast, and at the same time, includes physical effects often neglected by more standard codes: the component of the magnetic drift that is tangent to the flux-surface and the variation of the electrostatic potential on the flux-surface. An earlier version of the code could only describe configurations that were sufficiently optimized with respect to neoclassical transport. KNOSOS can now be applied to any large aspect ratio stellarator, and its performance is demonstrated by means of detailed simulations in the configuration space of Wendelstein 7-X., Comment: IAEA paper, submitted to Nuclear Fusion

Tracer-encapsulated solid pellet (TESPEL) was injected from the outboard midplane into Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) plasmas. Viewing from behind the flight path, the distribution of the light emissions from the TESPEL cloud particles (H, C and C2+) was recorded using an ultrafast visible camera with a temporal resolution up to 2 µs, which allows resolving both the pellet cloud evolution and the detachment of the drifting cloud. It was observed that both the B┴ and the B║ aligned dimensions of the pellet cloud fluctuate quasi-periodically, this being associated with a vertical cloud movement and an eruption/ejection of part of the cloud. It is found that, first, the pellet cloud expands parallel to the magnetic field lines for about 10 µs. Then, when the cloud reaches a certain B║ size the ionized part of the cloud (plasmoid) moves vertically (typically upwards) and detaches itself from the pellet within 10 µs. One possible explanation for the upward movement of the pellet cloud is the presence of a vertical component of grad(B) pointing downward resulting in an upward cloud drift.

In the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator, the main locations of particle sources are expected to be the carbon divertors, baffles and graphite heat shield first wall. In this paper, the heat shield is implemented in EMC3-EIRENE to understand the expected areas and magnitudes of the recycling flux to this component. It is found that in the simulation the heat shield is not a significant source of recycling neutrals. The areas of simulated recycling flux are shown to correlate well with footprints of plasma-wetting seen in post-experimental campaign in-vessel inspection photos. EMC3-EIRENE reconstruction of line-integrated H-alpha measurements at the heat shield indicate that the majority of emission does not come from local recycling neutrals. Rather, the H-alpha signals at the heat shield are dominated by ionization of neutrals which have leaked from the divertor/baffle region into the midplane. The magnitude of the H-alpha line emission from the synthetic reconstruction is consistent with the experiment, indicating that a large overestimation of heat shield recycling would occur if these measurements were assumed to be from local recycling sources. In the future, it may be possible to obtain some information of local recycling from the heat shield since it was found that the majority of the recycling flux occurs on two well-localized areas.

Turbulent transport is widely considered to be the main driver for cross-field transport in the scrape-off layer (SOL) of toroidal magnetized plasmas. Here, reciprocating Langmuir probes are employed to measure both the plasma profiles and the turbulent particle transport in the SOL of the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator. The relation between turbulent radial particle flux Γr and the local pressure gradient is often approximately linear across the entire SOL width, indicating that radial turbulence spreading is absent. This observation holds across a wide range of magnetic configurations and different plasma heating and density scenarios. The magnitude of the turbulent transport for a given gradient reveals a dependence on the magnetic configuration and the position in the SOL, which we relate to the cross-spectral characteristics of multi-tip floating potential measurements. Magnetic islands can add further complexity due to non-monotonic SOL profiles and the breaking of the transport-gradient relation. Finally, anomalous diffusion coefficients are determined from the probe measurements.

Turbulent transport is widely considered to be the main driver for cross-field transport in the scrape-off layer (SOL) of toroidal magnetized plasmas. Here, reciprocating Langmuir probes are employed to measure both the plasma profiles and the turbulent particle transport in the SOL of the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator. The relation between turbulent radial particle flux Γr and the local pressure gradient is often approximately linear across the entire SOL width, indicating that radial turbulence spreading is absent. This observation holds across a wide range of magnetic configurations and different plasma heating and density scenarios. The magnitude of the turbulent transport for a given gradient reveals a dependence on the magnetic configuration and the position in the SOL, which we relate to the cross-spectral characteristics of multi-tip floating potential measurements. Magnetic islands can add further complexity due to non-monotonic SOL profiles and the breaking of the transport-gradient relation. Finally, anomalous diffusion coefficients are determined from the probe measurements.

The perpendicular velocity (v ⊥) of turbulence is measured by means of a hopping poloidal correlation reflectometer diagnostic for the study of turbulence rotation in the plasma edge region in Wendelstein 7-X. An elliptic approximation (EA) model is applied for calculating the space-time correlation in the edge region. The v ⊥ profile is compared in the high-ι (edge ι ≈ 1.2) and limiter (edge ι < 1) configurations. It is found that the v ⊥ gradient is inversely proportional to the heating power in the high-ι configuration, which could be attributed to the turbulence activities in the plasma edge. In the limiter configuration, the v ⊥ spike is observed near the island boundary, which is corresponded to the plasma current crash. In the standard configuration (edge ι ≈ 1), the v ⊥ profile in the island region distributes as a function of the perpendicular separation. With increasing of the plasma current, the island enlarges the size as is referred from the v ⊥ scope, accompanying with steepening of the v ⊥ gradient at the boundary of the island.

Reciprocating probes are a classic and widespread tool for the investigation of the edge and Scrape-Off Layer of magnetic fusion plasmas. In the Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) stellarator, the Multi-Purpose Manipulator serves as a multi-user platform for probe measurements of various kinds. This paper presents a review on reciprocating probe operation during the first operation phase of W7-X with a test divertor (2017–2018). It gives an overview of the diverse zoo of probe heads and presents lessons learned about probe operation in complex magnetic geometries, operation safety, and probe head design. A few examples of probe measurements with a focus on unexpected observations are presented, e.g. indications for supra-thermal electrons and the propagation of plasma perturbations due to biased probes.

The optimised superconducting stellarator W7-X generates its rotational transform by means of external coils, therefore no toroidal current is necessary for plasma confinement. Electron cyclotron current drive experiments were conducted for strikeline control and safe divertor operation. During current drive experiments periodic and repetitive crashes of the central electron temperature, similar to sawtooth crashes in tokamaks, were detected. Measurements from soft x-ray tomography and electron cyclotron emission show that the crashes are preceded by weak oscillating precursors and a displacement of the plasma core, consistent with a (m, n) = (1, 1) mode. The displacement occurs within 100 μ s , followed by expulsion and redistribution of the core into the external part of the plasma. Two types of crashes, with different frequencies and amplitudes are detected in the experimental program. For these non-stationary parameters a strong dependence on the toroidal current is found. A 1-D heuristic model for current diffusion is proposed as a first step to explain the characteristic crash time. Initial results show that the modelled current diffusion timescale is consistent with the initial crash frequency and that the toroidal current rise shifts the position where the instability is triggered, resulting in larger crash amplitudes.

Coated glass targets are a key component of the Wendelstein 7-X laser blow-off system that is used for impurity transport studies. The preparation and analysis of these glass targets as well as their performance is examined in this paper. The glass targets have a high laser damage threshold and are coated via physical vapor deposition with µm thick films. In addition, nm-thin layers of Ti are used as an interface layer for improved ablation efficiency and reduced coating stress. Hence, the metallic or ceramic coating has a lateral homogeneity within 2% and contaminants less than 5%, being optimal for laser ablation processing. With this method, a short (few ms) and well defined pulse of impurities with about 1017 particles can be injected close to the last closed flux surface of Wendelstein 7-X. In particular, a significant amount of atoms with a velocity of about 1 km/s enters the plasma within 1 ms. The atoms are followed by a negligible concentration of slower clusters and macro-particles. This qualifies the use of the targets and applied laser settings for impurity transport studies with the laser blow-off system in Wendelstein 7-X.

The Charge Exchange Recombination Spectroscopy (CXRS) diagnostic has become a routine diagnostic on almost all major high temperature fusion experimental devices. For the optimized stellarator Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X), a highly flexible and extensive CXRS diagnostic has been built to provide high-resolution local measurements of several important plasma parameters using the recently commissioned neutral beam heating. This paper outlines the design specifics of the W7-X CXRS system and gives examples of the initial results obtained, including typical ion temperature profiles for several common heating scenarios, toroidal flow and radial electric field derived from velocity measurements, beam attenuation via beam emission spectra, and normalized impurity density profiles under some typical plasma conditions.

Equilibrium analysis in fusion devices usually relies on plasma pressure profiles and magnetic measurements outside the plasma. The kinetic profiles can give indirect information about the equilibrium magnetic field, while the stationary magnetic diagnostics cannot resolve current distributions on a smaller scale. This work presents a reciprocating magnetic probe, designed to provide direct plasma response measurements of the magnetic field in the scrape-off layer of Wendelstein 7-X. Hardware design and frequency characteristics are discussed, and a post-processing technique for extending the lower frequency cutoff of the integration scheme is presented.

Numerical calculations based on nonlinear two-fluid equations have been carried out to understand the sawtooth-like crashes of electron temperature observed in Wendelstein 7-X stellarator experiments with electron cyclotron current drive (ECCD). The application of ECCD leads to non-monotonic radial profiles of the safety factor q with two q = 1 surfaces in the plasma core region. Using input parameters similar to the experiment, numerical calculations show two types of crashes of the central electron temperature depending on the growth of the internal kink mode coupled to double tearing modes. When the distance between two equilibrium q = 1 surfaces is sufficiently large, the internal kink mode leads to a fast radial displacement of the hot core from the center to the region of the q = 1 surfaces. In agreement with experimental observation, this causes a full crash of central electron temperature in about 20–30 microseconds. When the distance between the two q = 1 surfaces is not large enough, partial crashes of the central electron temperature are found. During these crashes the hot core only temporally moves outwards. Then it moves back, because the double tearing mode perturbation leads to an increase of the minimum q value about one.