Search

The last experimental campaign at W7-AS took advantage of the full designed ECRH power. Together with the high flexibility of the experimental setup, this allows for new sophisticated experimental scenarios which will be described. With central ECRH deposition of 2.1 MW power a record electron temperature of 6.5 keV has been reached with a strongly peaked temperature profile. It has been shown that the confinement improves significantly due to the radial electric field ("electron root") induced by ECRH driven particle losses. The limits of the linear theory were demonstrated in high power ECRH experiments. The power transmitted through the plasma is reduced by an order of magnitude due to a suprathermal population generated from HFS launch. The dynamic behavior of the EC driven current was investigated in order to develop an adaptive feedback current control for ECCD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microwave stray radiation resulting from unabsorbed multiple reflected ECRH / ECCD beams may cause severe heating of microwave absorbing in-vessel components such as gaskets, bellows, windows, ceramics and cable insulations. In view of long-pulse operation of WENDELSTEIN-7X the Microwave STray RAdiation Launch facility, MISTRAL, allows to test in-vessel components in the environment of isotropic 140 GHz microwave radiation at power load of up to 50 kW/m2 over 30 min. The results show that both, sufficient microwave shielding measures and cooling of all components are mandatory. If shielding/cooling measures of in-vessel diagnostic components are not efficient enough, the level of stray radiation may be (locally) reduced by dedicated absorbing ceramic coatings on cooled structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although both 1st harmonic ordinary mode (O1) and 2nd harmonic extra-ordinary mode (X2) have been successfully used to initiate pre-ionization and breakdown in many devices, a complete theoretical model is still missing to explain the success of this method. Moreover, some experimental observations are not completely understood, such as what occurs during the delay time between the turn-on of ECRH power and first signals of density or light measurements. Since during this free period the ECRH power has to be absorbed by in-vessel components, it is of prime importance to know what governs this delay time. Recently, dedicated start-up experiments have been performed on WEGA, using a 28 GHz ECRH system in X2-mode. This machine has the interesting capability to be run also as a tokamak allowing comparative experiments between stellarator (t/2Π > 0) and tokamak ( t/2Π = 0) configurations. Different scans in heating power, neutral gas pressure, and rotational transform (t) show clearly that the start-up is a two step process. A first step following the turn-on of the ECRH power during which no measurable electron density (or just above the noise level in some cases), ECE and radiated power is detected. Its duration depends strongly on the level of injected power. The second step corresponds to the gas ionization and plasma expansion phase, with a velocity of density build-up and filling-up of the vessel volume depending mainly on pressure, gas and rotational transform. Moreover, an interesting scenario of ECRH pre-ionization without loop voltage in tokamak configuration by applying a small optimal vertical field is relevant for start-up assistance on future experiments like ITER. The results from this experimental parametric study are useful for the modeling of the start-up assisted by the second harmonic electron cyclotron resonance heating. The aim of this work is to establish predictive scenarios for both ITER and W7-X operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discharge wall conditioning is an effective tool to improve plasma performance in tokamaks and stellarators. RF Discharge Conditioning (RFDC) techniques are envisaged for use during operational campaigns on superconducting devices like the ITER tokamak and W7-X stellarator, as alternative to DC Glow Discharge Conditioning which is inefficient in presence of magnetic fields. This contribution investigates RFDC in both the ion and electron cyclotron range of frequencies (ICRF and ECRF) on the WEGA device (Max-Planck-Institute for Plasma Physics, Greifswald, Germany) as preparation for W7-X operation. ECRF discharges produced by localised absorption of RF power at EC resonance layers suffer from poor radial discharge homogeneity in the tokamak vacuum magnetic field configuration, severely limiting the plasma wetted wall areas and consequently the conditioning efficiency. The non-localised production of ICRF discharges by collisional RF power absorption features much improved discharge homogeneity making Ion Cyclotron Wall Conditioning (ICWC) the favoured RFDC technique for superconducting tokamaks. RFDC with the stellarator vacuum magnetic field needs to aim at sufficient plasma densities at and outside the last closed flux surface (LCFS), maximising the convective plasma flux along the open field lines to the wall. Whereas for ICRF discharges this condition is easily fulfilled, on WEGA for He-ECRF discharges this could be achieved as well by off axis heating close to the LCFS. In stellarator magnetic field configuration it is found that He-ICWC for wall desaturation is at least one order of magnitude more efficient than He-ECWC. Novel ECWC methods are proposed that can decrease this efficiency gap with ICWC to a factor 2-3. The efficiency difference is less pronounced in case of H2-ICWC and ECWC for isotopic exchange. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction of the W7-X basic machine is almost completed and the device is approaching the commissioning phase. W7-X operation will be supported by ECRH working at 140 GHz in 2nd harmonic X- or O-mode with 10 MW cw power. Presently the activities at W7-X concentrate on the implementation of wall-armour, in-vessel components and diagnostics. The ECRH-system is in stand by with 5 out of 10 gyrotrons operational. The status of both, the W7-X device and the ECRH system is reported. Further R&D activities concentrate on extending the launching capability for sophisticated confinement investigations with remote steering launchers in a poloidal plane with weak magnetic field gradient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electron Cyclotron Resonance Heating (ECRH) systems for next step-fusion devices like W7-X and ITER operate in CW-mode and provide a large flexibility to comply with various physics demands such as plasma start-up, heating and current drive, as well as configuration and MHD control. The request for many different sophisticated applications results in a growing complexity of the systems. This is in conflict with the request for high availability, reliability, and maintainability, which arises from DEMO demands. 'Advanced' ECRH-components must, therefore, comply with both the complex physics demands and operational robustness and reliability. The W7-X ECRH system is the first CW facility of an ITER relevant size and is used as a test bed for such components. Results on improvements of gyrotrons, transmission components and launchers are presented together with proposals for future developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fundamental investigations on EBW excitation, propagation and absorption are presented. In particular the OXB mode conversion and EBW current drive with 2.45 GHz EBWs are investigated and compared with modeling. High density operation with 28 GHz EBWs could be achieved at 0.5 T (2nd harmonic). This regime is characterized by a additional strongly supra-thermal electron distribution with energies >10 keV. These electrons were detected by measurement of the EBW emission and by X-ray detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The WEGA stellarator [1] is well suited for fundamental electron Bernstein wave (EBW) studies. Heating and current drive experiments at 2.45 GHz and 28 GHz, carried out in WEGA’s low temperature, steady state overdense plasmas, were supported by intensive modelling. We employ our AMR (Antenna—Mode-conversion—Ray-tracing) code [3] to calculate the O-X-EBW conversion efficiency with a full-wave equation solver, while the power deposition and current drive profiles using ray tracing. Several phenomena have been studied and understood. Particularly, EBW current drive was theoretically predicted and experimentally detected at 2.45 GHz. Simulations confirmed the presence of two (cold and hot) electron components and the resonant behaviour of the EBW power deposition and its dependence on the magnetic field configuration. Furthermore, the code is used to predict the 28 GHz heating and current drive performance and to simulate EBW emission spectra. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The HELIAS-type Stellarator Wendelstein 7-X, which is currently under construction in Greifswald, Germany, will be equipped with a 140 GHz, 10 MW, CW ECRH system. It will be the main plasma heating system for W7-X. The key features and capabilities of the ECRH plant will be discussed together with the envisaged start-up and heating scenarios. We also report on the ECRH stray radiation test facility MISTRAL and on the extension of the gyrotron frequency range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 10 MW, 140 GHz, CW ECRH-plant for W7-X is in an advanced state of commissioning and the installation was used to investigate advanced applications for extended heating- and current drive scenarios. The operation of the TED gyrotrons was recently extended to a 2nd frequency of 103.6 GHz at reduced output power and first results are presented. An improved collector sweep system for the W7-X gyrotrons with enhanced power capability and smooth power distribution was developed, results are reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electron Cyclotron Resonance Heating (ECRH) is the main heating system for the W7-X stellarator and the only one for CW-operation in the first stage. The mission of W7-X, which is presently under construction at IPP-Greifswald, is to demonstrate the inherent steady state capability of stellarators at reactor relevant plasma parameters. W7-X is therefore equipped with a superconducting coil system operating at 3 T and a divertor for 10 MW steady state heat removal. A 10 MW ECRH plant with CW-capability at 140 GHz is under construction to meet the scientific objectives. The commissioning of the ECRH plant is well under way, the status of the project and first full power, cw test results are reported. © 2005 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the framework of a collaboration between IFP-CNR Milano, IPP Garching/Greifswald and IPF Stuttgart, a set of four millimeterwave probes has been installed in W7-AS stellarator at selected positions of the inner vessel wall. Their purpose is to observe RF stray radiation during operation in presence of strong level of Electron Cyclotron (EC) waves, used for plasma start-up, heating and current drive. The aim of these measurements is to benchmark two complementary theoretical models for the distribution of the stray radiation in the vessel. From these codes, quantitative predictions are expected for the spatial distribution of the RF wall load and the RF-impact on in-vessel components in large future devices such as W7-X and, possibly, ITER. This input is important to optimize the wall armour and select rfcompatible in-vessel materials. We present first measurements from different heating and startup scenarios, with up to 800 kW of injected power at 140 GHz and different launching geometries. An analysis of measurements performed on FTU using a previous version of sniffer probe is also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]