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Electron cyclotron wall conditioning with neon gas (Ne-ECWC) has been performed on the normal conducting spherial tokamak QUEST with metal walls under a trapped particle configuration with O-mode EC waves including X-mode polarization with a frequency of 8.2 GHz and an injection power of 16 kW. The Ne-ECWC removes hydrogen from the wall with small neon retention. The Ne-ECWC decreases hydrogen recycling at the following tokamak discharges, contributing to an improvement of the following tokamak plasma start-up: the plasma current increases and the start-up timing of the plasma current shifts forward. However, defects such as voids and bubbles are formed on tungsten surface exposed to the Ne-ECWC plasma.

A novel divertor biasing by four biasing plates distributed toroidally (TDDB) on the upper divertor target plate is applied to low density tokamak plasmas started-up by 28 GHz 2nd harmonic electron cyclotron current drive (ECCD) in a quasi-double null configuration of the QUEST spherical tokamak (ST). In the ST plasmas of line averaged electron density < ${n_e}$ > ∼0.7–1 × 10 ^18 m ^−3 , about 20%–40% of the current ${I_{{\text{bias}}}}$ driven by ∼85 V sawtooth bias voltage reaches the lower divertor plate along the biased scrape-off-layer (SOL) flux tube as the SOL current ${I_{{\text{SOL}}}}$ . The fact ${I_{{\text{SOL}}}}$ is noticeably lower than ${I_{\text{bias}}}{\text{ }}$ indicates an appreciable leakage of parallel current from the biased SOL flux tube. The leakage currents in the toroidal and radial directions are confirmed by detection of them using the unbiased plates in the TDDB experiments. From the ion saturation current density profile obtained by a divertor Langmuir probe array, the fall-off lengths of divertor particle flux are estimated together with the strike line position. Total particle flux to the upper divertor, evaluated by the integrated ion saturation current density profile is reduced by up to 45% during positive biasing of the TDDB, depending on the position of the strike line to the biased plate. In addition, the TDDB also induces a noticeable loss of fast electrons produced by ECCD, leading to an ∼2% reduction in the maximum toroidal current of the ST plasma compared to a shot without the TDDB. Reduction of the divertor particle flux and enhancement of the fast electron losses are thought to be dominantly caused by E $ \times B$ drift induced by the TDDB. In the present experimental conditions, the effects of magnetic perturbations produced by the SOL currents on the fast electron losses can be neglected because of a too small SOL current.

As technology has improved in recent years, it has become possible to create new valuable functions by combining various devices and sensors in a network. This concept is referred to as the Internet of Things (IoT), and predictive maintenance is a new valuable function associated with the IoT. In large-scale experimental facilities with many researchers, it is not desirable that experiments cannot be performed due to sudden failure of equipment. For this reason, it is important to predict the failure in advance based on the measurement results of sensors and to perform repairs in a planned manner. On the Q-shu University experiment with steady-state spherical tokamak (QUEST) large experimental device, it is necessary to drive a large current of 50 kA, and the diagnosis of its power line deterioration is well performed as predictive maintenance through the evaluation of its contact resistances of several micro ohms order on the network. In addition, as an example of the IoT, mechanisms to assist safe operation, such as a sound alarm system and an entrance management system, are built by sharing experimental information between devices via the network.

The spatial distribution of the hydrogen atom density was evaluated in a spherical tokamak (ST) plasma sustained only with 28 GHz electron cyclotron heating (ECH). The radially resolved Hδ emissivity was measured using multiple viewing chord spectroscopy and Abel inversion. A collisional-radiative (CR) model analysis of the emissivity resulted in a ground-state hydrogen atom density of 1015–1016 m−3 and an ionization degree of 1–0.85 in the plasma.

This paper presents a detailed design of the Q-shu University experimental steady state spherical tokamak’s (QUEST’s) high-field side (HFS) injection system for electron Bernstein wave (EBW) excitation and the results of an experimental comparison of the HFS eXtraordinary X-mode and low-field side (LFS) ordinary O-mode injection of 8.2 GHz radio frequency (RF) power. Waveguides, as an alternative to mirror polarizers for transmitting RF X-mode power from LFS to HFS for EBW conversion, were used instead of the installation of an RF mirror. Testing of LFS-to-HFS RF power transmission at 8.2 GHz, using an RG-50-type vacuum waveguide in a bench-scale device filled with SF6 gas at 0.03 Mpa, revealed that an RF power of 10.8 kW could traverse the fundamental electron cyclotron resonance layer for 60 s without breakdown. The short-length, open-ended waveguide antenna used in the HFS injection-induced wave diffraction reduced the efficiency of power delivery to the upper hybrid resonance (UHR) by approximately 7% at an electron temperature of 50 eV. The HFS injection was able to produce brighter camera images than the standard LFS injection. The location of the UHR, as estimated by measuring the density with an interferometer, agreed with its location as measured by plasma radiation low-field, side-edge positions shown by fast camera imaging. This indicates that the plasma was produced by mode-converted EBW. The HFS injection had an absorption efficiency of 96%, compared to 40% for LFS. A greater fluctuation of floating potential adjustable to the lower hybrid wave (LHW) was observed in the HFS case by installing a Langmuir probe, confirming that EBW conversion efficiency was higher in the HFS case. Moreover, after setting the poloidal field to BPF = 7.6 mT, plasma current (IP) in the HFS peaked at 1.3 kA, as opposed to 0.3 kA for LFS, despite LFS injection having a total power of 55 kW, compared to 40 kW for HFS. However, as the impurity level was comparatively high, it is believed that this IP is dominated by pressure-drive, which makes it difficult to analyze EBWCD. Finally, the line-integrated density in the HFS injection peaked at 1.6 × 1018 m−2, compared to 8 × 1017 m−2 in the LFS one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ion cyclotron emission (ICE) is probably excited by non-thermal ion velocity distribution. Identifying characteristics of the ion velocity distribution that excites the ICE can contribute to understanding its emission mechanism. The characteristics of fast helium-3 (3He) ion velocity distribution that excites 3He ICE [ICE(3He)] on JT-60U are investigated. First, fast deuterium ion distributions, which mainly contribute to deuterium–deuterium fusion reactions, are calculated with a fast ion orbit following Monte-Carlo code (OFMC code) under realistic conditions to evaluate birth spatial and velocity distributions of the 3He ions. Then, the fast 3He ion distributions are evaluated with the OFMC code using the birth distributions and compared between cases when the ICE(3He) is observed and not. The evaluated fast 3He ion distributions at the midplane edge of the plasma on the low field side have strong pitch-angle anisotropy in both cases. In the case with the ICE(3He) excitation, a relatively peaked bump-on tail structure in the energy direction is formed in the distributions. The formation of the relatively peaked bump-on tail structure is localized at the plasma edge on the low field side. On the other hand, the distributions at the plasma edge on the low field side have a broader structure in the energy direction in the case without the excitation. The comparison results show that the formation of the relatively peaked bump-on tail structure in the fast 3He ion distribution makes a key contribution to the excitation of the ICE(3He) on JT-60U. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]