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Far Scrape-Off Layer (SOL) and near-wall plasma parameters in DIII-D depend strongly on the discharge parameters and confinement regime. In L-mode discharges cross-field transport increases with the average discharge density and flattens far SOL profiles, thus increasing plasma contact with the low field side (LFS) main chamber wall. In H-mode between edge localized modes (ELMs) the plasma?wall contact is weaker than in L-mode. During ELM fluxes of particles and heat to the LFS wall increase transiently above the L-mode values. Depending on the discharge conditions, ELMs are responsible for 30?90% of the net ion flux to the outboard chamber wall. ELMs in high density discharges feature intermittent transport events similar to those observed in L-mode and attributed to blobs of dense hot plasma formed inside the separatrix and propagating radially outwards. Though the blobs decay with radius, some of them survive long enough to reach the outer wall and possibly cause sputtering. In lower density H-modes, ELMs can feature blobs of pedestal density propagating all the way to the outer wall.

Using resonant magnetic perturbations with toroidal mode number n = 3, we have produced H-mode discharges without edge localized modes (ELMs) which run with constant density and radiated power for periods up to about 2550 ms (17 energy confinement times). These ELM suppression results are achieved at pedestal collisionalities close to those desired for next step burning plasma experiments such as ITER and provide a means of eliminating the rapid erosion of divertor components in such machines which could be caused by giant ELMs. The ELM suppression is due to an enhancement in the edge particle transport which reduces the edge pressure gradient and pedestal current density below the threshold for peeling-ballooning modes. These n = 3 magnetic perturbations provide a means of active control of edge plasma transport.

Densities of up to 40% above the Greenwald limit are reproducibly achieved in high confinement (HITER89P = 2) ELMing H mode discharges. Simultaneous gas fuelling and divertor pumping were used to obtain these results. Confinement of these discharges, similar to moderate density H mode, is characterized by a stiff temperature profile, and is therefore sensitive to the density profile. A particle transport model is presented that explains the roles of divertor pumping and geometry for access to high densities. The energy loss per ELM at high density is a factor of five lower than the predictions of an earlier scaling, based on data from lower density discharges.

Recent progress towards an increased understanding of the physical processes in the divertor and scrape-off layer (SOL) plasmas in DIII-D has been made possible by a combination of new diagnostics, improved computational models and changes in divertor geometry. The work focused primarily on ELMing H mode discharges. The physics of partially detached divertor plasmas, with divertor heat flux reduction by divertor radiation enhancement using D2 puffing, was studied in two dimensions, and a model of the heat and particle transport was developed that includes conduction, convection, ionization, recombination and flows. Plasma and impurity particle flows were measured with Mach probes and spectroscopy and compared with the UEDGE model. The model now includes self-consistent calculations of carbon impurities. Impurity radiation was increased in the divertor and SOL with `puff and pump' techniques using SOL D2 puffing, divertor cryopumping and argon puffing. The important physical processes in plasma-wall interactions were examined with a DiMES (divertor material evaluation system) probe, plasma characterization near the divertor plate and the REDEP code. Experiments comparing single null plasma operation in baffled and open divertors demonstrated a change in the edge plasma profiles. These results are consistent with a reduction in the core ionization source calculated with UEDGE. Divertor particle control in ELMing H mode with pumping and baffling resulted in a reduction in H mode core densities to ne/nGr ≈ 0.25 (with nGr the Greenwald density). Divertor particle exhaust and heat flux were studied as the plasma shape was varied from a lower single null to a balanced double null, and finally to an upper single null.

This paper summarizes results from a two-dimensional (2D) physics analysis of the transition to and stable operation of the partially detached divertor (PDD) regime induced by deuterium injection in DIII-D. The analysis [1] shows that PDD operation is characterized by a radiation zone near the X-point at -15 eV which reduces the energy flux into the divertor and thereby also reduces the target plate heat flux, an ionization zone below the X-point which provides a deuterium ion source to fuel parallel flow down the outer divertor leg, an ion-neutral interaction zone in the outer leg which removes momentum and energy from the flow and finally a volume recombination zone above the target plate which reduces the particle flux to the low levels measured on the plates and thereby also contributes to reduction in target plate heat flux.

In a magnetically diverted tokamak, the scrape-off layer (SOL) and divertor plasma separates the first wall from the core plasma, intercepting impurities generated at the wall before they reach the core plasma. The divertor plasma can also serve to spread the heat and particle flux over a large area of divertor structure wall using impurity radiation and neutral charge exchange, thus reducing peak heat and particle fluxes at the divertor strike plate. Such a reduction will be required in the next generation of tokamaks, for without it the divertor engineering requirements are very demanding. To successfully demonstrate a radiative divertor, a highly radiative condition with significant volume recombination must be achieved in the divertor, while maintaining a low impurity content in the core plasma. Divertor plasma properties are determined by a complex interaction of classical parallel transport, anomalous perpendicular transport, impurity transport and radiation, and plasma - wall interaction. In this paper we will describe a set of experiments on DIII-D designed to provide detailed two-dimensional documentation of the divertor and SOL plasma. Measurements have been made in operating modes where the plasma is attached to the divertor strike plate and in highly radiating cases where the plasma is detached from the divertor strike plate. We will also discuss the results of experiments designed to influence the distribution of impurities in the plasma using enhanced SOL plasma flow. Extensive modelling efforts will be described which are successfully reproducing attached plasma conditions and are helping to elucidate the important plasma and atomic physics involved in the detachment process.

Recent experiments on DIII-D have demonstrated that having a toroidally-monochromatic spectral content of edge-resonant magnetic perturbations (RMPs) is not a necessary condition for suppression of edge localized modes (ELMs). Robust ELM suppression has been reproducibly obtained on DIII-D during experiments in which various non-axisymmetric coil loops were turned off pseudo-randomly producing a variety of n=1 ?> , n= 2 ?> , and n= 3 ?> spectral contributions. It was shown that RMP ELM suppression could be achieved with as few as 5 out of 12 internal coil loops (I-coils) on DIII-D at similar coil currents and with good plasma confinement. Linear MHD plasma response (m3dc1, ipec, mars) and vacuum (surfmn, trip3d) modelling have been performed in order to understand the effects of the perturbation spectrum on the plasma response and ELM suppression. The results suggest that reduction of the dominant n= 3 ?> perturbation field is compensated by increased n= 2 ?> field in the plasma that may lead to RMP ELM suppression at lower levels of n= 3 ?> perturbative magnetic flux from the I-coils. These results provide additional confidence that ITER may be capable of RMP ELM suppression in the event of multiple internal coil failures.