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Starting from a standard single null X-point configuration, a second order null divertor (snowflake (SF)) has been successfully created on the Tokamak a Configuration Variable (TCV) tokamak. The magnetic properties of this innovative configuration have been analysed and compared with a standard X-point configuration. For the SF divertor, the connection length and the flux expansion close to the separatrix exceed those of the standard X-point by more than a factor of 2. The magnetic shear in the plasma edge is also larger for the SF configuration.

An edge-localized mode (ELM) H-mode regime, supported by electron cyclotron heating, has been successfully established in a “snowflake” (second-order null) divertor configuration for the first time in the TCV tokamak. This regime exhibits 2 to 3 times lower ELM frequency and 20%–30% increased normalized ELM energy ($Delta W_{ELM}/W_p$) compared to an identically shaped, conventional single-null diverted H mode. Enhanced stability of mid- to high-toroidal-mode-number ideal modes is consistent with the different snowflake ELM phenomenology. The capability of the snowflake to redistribute the edge power on the additional strike points has been confirmed experimentally.

A specific experimental apparatus consisting of an ion source and a detector for the investigation of the interaction between supra-thermal ions and drift-wave turbulence is developed on the TORoidal Plasma Experiment (TORPEX). Due to the small plasma temperature (~5eV), a spatially localized, small-size ion source (~4cm) mounted inside the vacuum vessel, with relatively low ion energy (~100eV-1keV) can be used. The source consists of an aluminosilicate Li-6 ion emitter (6 mm diameter, 10-30μA current) installed on a 2D poloidally moving system. The location, energy and current density profile of the ion beam will be measured using a 2D movable gridded energy analyzer.

Recent experiments have been performed on the Tokamak a configuration variable (TCV) to investigate the confinement properties of high density plasmas and the mechanism behind the density limit. In a limiter configuration with plasma elongation kappa = 1.3-1.4 and triangularity delta = 0.2-0.3 the operational density range has been extended up to 0.65 of the Greenwald density at I-p = 200 kA (q(95) = 3.7) and even to the Greenwald value at low plasma current I-p = 110 kA (q(95) = 7). A transition from the linear to the saturated ohmic confinement regime is observed at high density similar to 0.4n(GW). A further density increase leads to sawtooth stabilization and is accompanied by a decrease of the energy and particle confinement times. The development of the disruption at the density limit was preceded by sawtooth stabilization. It is shown that electron cyclotron heating leads to the prevention of sawtooth stabilization and then to the increase of the density limit value.

Divertor detachment is investigated on the Tokamak a Configuration Variable (TCV) for conventional and alternative double-null (DN) magnetic geometries in L-mode, Ohmic density ramps and then compared to precisely matched single-null (SN) geometries. The poloidal flux expansion at the outer strikepoint(s) is varied by a factor 2 and the total flux expansion by 30% in lower single null (LSN) and DN configurations. Leg power sharing for DN and near-DN in attached conditions is in line with previous studies in other devices, with balanced power partition between upper and lower divertor achieved for vertical bar delta R-sep vertical bar less than or similar to lambda (q) /2. This results in a reduction in the lower outer target integral and peak heat flux compared to a LSN by 30%. Unlike previous studies, lambda (q) is fairly insensitive to delta R-sep. The detachment threshold in these geometries is investigated from target measurements with wall-embedded Langmuir probes and two-dimensional CIII line emissivity profiles across the two divertor regions. DN plasmas display clear benefits compared to their LSN counterparts. Transitioning from a LSN to DN shows a substantial reduction, of approx. 20%-25%, in the detachment threshold for the active divertor legs as well as a 50% higher radiated fraction at all < n(e)>. The density limit is simultaneously reduced in DN by 10%-20%. Across the explored range, poloidal flux expansion has only a small effect on the detachment threshold in LSN (as seen in previous experiments), and no effect in DN, with similar observations for the total flux expansion. In general, no strong benefits of increased poloidal or total flux expansion are observed across the explored range.

Bifurcated magnetohydrodynamic tokamak equilibrium states with axisymmetric or helical core structure are computed. When a peaked pressure profile is chosen, the helical core structures appear like the {em snakes} that are observed in the JET tokamak. They also have the allure of saturated ideal internal kinks. The existence of a magnetic island is not a requisite condition. Novel equilibrium states that can model the snake are obtained for a JET configuration when the $q$-profile has weak reversed magnetic shear with minimum $q$ values in the range of $0.94$ to $1.03$. At the lower end of this $q_{min}$ range, the equilibrium {em snake} structure lies radially well inside the domain for which $q_{min}leq 1$. Free boundary equilibria computed for the TCV tokamak develop helical cores when $\eta_N$ exceeds $0.3$ and have a significant axis excursion for $\eta_Ngeq 0.4$. At fixed $left < \eta ight>=1.6\%$, the distortion of the magnetic axis is large in the range $0.95leq q_{min}leq 1.01$. The plasma-vacuum interface is not significantly altered by the internal helical deformations.

The transport of heat and particles in a tokamak plasma with a snowflake divertor has been studied in recent TCV experiments. Estimates of the power flux onto the divertor plates are obtained from measurements with multiple infrared cameras and Langmuir probes. The studies include L- and ELMy H-mode plasmas and confirm some of the advantageous properties of the snowflake configuration, such as the distribution of the exhaust power on more strike points than the two that characterize conventional divertor configurations. Modifications of the divertor configuration from single null towards a perfect snowflake (second-order null) show that already near-snowflake configurations lead to an appreciable power flux across the region of weak poloidal magnetic field.

A set of Ohmic density ramp experiments addressing the role of parallel connection length in modifying scrape off layer (SOL) properties has been performed on the TCV tokamak. The parallel connection length has been modified by varying the poloidal flux expansion fx. It will be shown that this modification does not influence neither the detachment density threshold, nor the development of a flat SOL density profile which instead depends strongly on the increase of the core line average density. The modification of the SOL upstream profile, with the appearance of what is generally called a density shoulder, has been related to the properties of filamentary blobs. Blob size increases with density, without any dependence on the parallel connection length both in the near and far SOL. The increase of the density decay length, corresponding to a profile flattening, has been related to the variation of the divertor normalized collisionality Lambda(div) (Myra et al 2006 Phys. Plasmas 13 112502, Carralero et al, ASDEX Upgrade Team, JET Contributors and EUROfusion MST1 Team 2015 Phys. Rev. Let. 115 215002), showing that in TCV the increase of Lambda(div) is not sufficient to guarantee the SOL upstream profile flattening.

A simple analytic model for the repartition of the Scrape-Off Layer (SOL) exhaust power between the inner and outer divertors in a diverted low-density tokamak plasma is introduced. Electron heat conduction is assumed to dominate the heat transport, from the outboard mid-plane to the divertor targets, with no heat sinks or sources in the SOL. Both divertor channels are in the attached, high-recycling regime. The model is in reasonable qualitative agreement with recent TCV experimental data and EMC3-Eirene simulations. For the Single Null divertor, it reproduces the experimentally observed increase in the power ratio between the inner and outer divertor plates of TCV, with increasing the outer divertor leg length or the outer target flux expansion. For the Snowflake Minus configuration, it reproduces the observed variation of with X-point separation, although only for the reversed magnetic field direction. Within the model limitations, it provides a basic understanding of the power sharing in alternative divertor geometries.

Safe ITER operations will rely on power spreading to keep the peak heat flux within divertor material constraints. A solid understanding and parameterization of heat flux profiles is therefore mandatory. This paper focuses on the impact of plasma geometry on the power decay length (lambda(q)) and the spreading factor (S). Numerical heat flux profiles, obtained with the simple SOL transport model MONALISA, agree with theoretical predictions for purely diffusive cylindrical plasmas: lambda(q) does not depend on the machine-specific divertor geometry but only on transport parameters and global geometry (a, R, k). A dedicated experiment on TCV was designed to further test this assumption in L-mode plasmas with similar control parameters and upstream shape but different divertor leg length (Z(mag) = -14, 0, 28 cm). Characterization of OSP q(vertical bar vertical bar) profiles with Langmuir probes and infrared thermography enlightens unexpected behavior with the divertor leg length: lambda(q) increases, while S shows no clear trend. These findings suggest that the link between heat flux profiles, plasma geometry and transport is currently not fully understood. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

The aim of this work is to provide an understanding of detachment at TCV with emphasis on analysis of the Balmer line emission. A new Divertor Spectroscopy System has been developed for this purpose. Further development of Balmer line analysis techniques has allowed detailed information to be extracted from the three-body recombination contribution to the n = 7 Balmer line intensity. During density ramps, the plasma at the target detaches as inferred from a drop in ion current to the target. At the same time the Balmer 6 → 2 and 7 → 2 line emission near the target is dominated by recombination. As the core density increases further, the density and recombination rate are rising all along the outer leg to the x-point while remaining highest at the target. Even at the highest core densities accessed (Greenwald fraction 0.7) the peaks in recombination and density may have moved not more than a few cm poloidally away from the target which is different to other, higher density tokamaks, where both the peak in recombination and density continue to move towards the x-point as the core density is increased. The inferred magnitude of recombination is small compared to the target ion current at the time detachment (particle flux drop) starts at the target. However, recombination may be having more localized effects (to a flux tube) which we cannot discern at this time. Later, at the highest densities achieved, the total recombination does reach levels similar to the particle flux.