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A study of a dataset of JET H-mode plasma with the Be/W ITER-like wall (JET-ILW) shows that reaching the edge MHD ballooning limit leads to confinement degradation. However, unlike JET plasmas with a carbon wall (JET-C), the JET-ILW plasmas stay in a marginal dithering phase for a relatively long period, associated with a higher (≈20%) H-mode density limit (HDL) than JET-C equivalents. This suggests that ITER could be operated in H-mode with higher density than the scaling based on carbon wall devices, but likely with a dithering phase plasma with lower confinement. A new, reliable estimator for JET Er, min has been derived by combining HRTS measurements of pedestal gradient and edge-SOL decay lengths. JET radial Er ETB wells are observed in the range of −15 to −60 kV m−1 in high performance H-modes, consistent with previous CXRS results in ASDEX Upgrade. The results imply that a higher positive E × B shear in the near SOL plays a role in sustaining a marginal phase in JET-ILW which leads to a higher HDL than that in JET-C. The results of the JET-ILW dataset show agreement with the Goldston finite collisionality HD model for SOL broadening at high collisionality. A hypothesis for the dithering H-mode phase is proposed: as ne,SOL increases, ν∗,SOL increases, SOL broadens, Er shear decreases, triggers L-mode; ne drops, ν∗,SOL decreases, SOL becomes narrower, and Er shear increases, triggering H-mode, resulting in a cycle of H–L–H- oscillations. For burning plasma devices, such as ITER, operating just below the MHD limit for the dithering phase could be a promising regime for maximising core density, and fusion performance while minimising plasma-material interaction. The oscillatory signal during the dithering phase could be used as a precursor of undesirable plasma performance for control purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work the onset of tearing modes in the termination phase of plasma pulses on JET is investigated. It is shown that the broadening or the shrinking of the current density profile, as a consequence of a core hollowing or an edge cooling of the electron temperature profile, strongly increases the probability of destabilizing a 2/1 tearing mode also in absence of an external trigger (e.g. a sawtooth crash). Two parameters are defined to highlight changes in the shape of the temperature profile that can lead to MHD instabilities and an empirical stability diagram is introduced into the space of the two new parameters. A large data-set of pulses carried out in the high-current scenario at JET with ITER-like wall is analyzed and criteria for the development of disruption alerts based on the two risk indicators for MHD instabilities are discussed, taking into account the different dynamics of the observed phenomena leading to the onset of 2/1 tearing modes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polarimetry exploits the optical activity and birefringent properties of thermonuclear plasmas to calculate some important quantities for their control like the line-integrated electron density and magnetic field distribution. The Joint European Torus (JET) far infrared polarimeter shares the same probing laser beams of the interferometer, with eight channels, four vertical and four lateral. While the vertical channels were already optimised to provide accurate measurements of the Faraday rotation angle, Cotton–Mouton (CM) phase shift and ellipticity, the lateral channels had been only optimised for Faraday rotation angle alone. By setting the initial polarisation angle of the lateral channel at zero degrees the CM effect is minimised, the ellipticity is almost zero, and the CM phase shift angle is impossible to measure. During the recent JET experimental campaign (C38 in 2019–2020), the input polarisation for the lateral channels was altered for a class of pulses to analyse the possibility to measure the CM phase shift angle and the ellipticity, and, more important, to assess if it is possible to provide information of line-integrated electron density using the lateral channels of JET polarimetry in an ITER-like configuration. As a note, ITER will have only tangential channels with reflectors buried deep inside the first wall, so this setup was truly an ITER-like configuration. The results clearly show huge improvements, which can be achieved by just changing the input polarisation. Moreover, the analysis of the measurements shows that the polarimetric measurements have a systematic error, which is probably due to the effect of refraction and to the in-vessel mirrors, which was only partially taken into account during the calibration phase before the plasma. Thus, a new calibration method was developed and the results presented on a statistical basis. It has been demonstrated that, varying the input polarisation of the polarimeter and using the new calibration method, it is possible to measure the line-integrated electron density, using the CM phase shift (or the ellipticity) of the lateral channels, with good accuracy with respect to the electron density measured by the interferometer that was considered the reference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An understanding of fast (supra-thermal) ion behavior is of great importance in tokamak physics and is a subject studied from both theoretical and experimental perspectives. This paper investigates the spatial energy and density distributions of RF accelerated deuterons using the neutron camera at the tokamak JET. Using the 19 liquid scintillator detectors available in the neutron camera system, we obtain spatial information that cannot be accessed with a single sightline. We present a spectroscopic analysis method in which a spatially resolved model of the fast ion distribution is fitted to the pulse height spectra from all 19 detectors simultaneously. The fast ion distribution is parameterized in such a way that the density, energy, and pitch-angle parts are uncoupled. The energy part is composed of a Maxwellian distribution, characterized by an 'RF tail temperature,' and the spatial dependence is modeled as a two-dimensional Gaussian distribution on the poloidal plane of the tokamak. From this parameterized model, we can calculate the spectrum of fusion born neutrons originating from reactions involving RF accelerated deuterons, and by fitting this model to the measured neutron camera pulse height spectra, we obtain an estimate of the spatially resolved distribution of the fast deuterons. The method has been applied to three JET pulses using different RF heating schemes and is shown to identify several features of the fast ion distribution produced in the various scenarios. Hence, this method is able to provide quantitative information about the fast ion distribution resulting from different heating schemes, and can also be useful, e.g., to validate simulation results from RF modeling codes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A runaway electron (RE) fluid model is used to perform non-linear magnetohydrodynamic simulations of a relativistic electron beam termination event in JET. The case considered is that of a post-disruption low density cold plasma in the runaway plateau phase, wherein high-Z impurities have been largely flushed out via deuterium second injection (Shot:95135). Details of the experiment are found in separate publications. Our studies reveal that a combination of low plasma density and a hollow current profile which is confirmed by experimental studies causes fast growth of a double-tearing mode, which in turn leads to stochastization of the magnetic field and a prompt loss of REs. The phenomenology of events leading to the crash and the timescales of the dynamics are in excellent agreement with the experiment. Simulations also indicate significant toroidal variation in RE deposition but without localized hotspots. The strong stochastization setting in first from the edge leads to a poloidally broad deposition footprint that partly explains the benign nature of the termination event. This work further supports the potential possibility to engineer a benign RE beam termination scenario via deuterium second injection in ITER, as proposed by Reux et al 'Runaway electron beam suppression using impurity flushing and large magnetohydrodynamic instabilities' (submitted to Physical Review Letters). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of EDGE2D-EIRENE cases was run in different wall materials of JET L-mode plasma with the input power close to the H-mode power threshold in ITER-like wall (ILW), with tungsten (W) covering the divertor, and beryllium (Be)—main chamber surfaces. Cases with all carbon (C) and all W walls were run at the same input power as in ILW cases. Contrary to expectations based on the idea that deeper penetration of neutrals re-emitted from surfaces with higher atomic mass into the plasma core raises core density, EDGE2D-EIRENE cases had the highest density in the C wall case. This is explained via the effect of the 'power deficit' in the divertor, as recycling neutrals deposit a fraction of their power into walls, thereby cooling the divertor plasma. This effect is stronger in C compared to W divertor surfaces. The plasma cooling in the divertor increases plasma density and neutral recycling, with more neutrals penetrating into the core. Metal wall (ILW and W wall) EDGE2D-EIRENE cases were found to have larger radial electric field (Er) both inside and outside of the separatrix, in line with the mechanism of the E × B shear turbulence suppression and experimental observations of lower H-mode power threshold in metal wall machines. The originally expected trend for higher core densities in metal wall machines, based on the effect of deeper penetration of neutrals re-emitted from higher atomic mass surfaces, was recovered in much lower density EDGE2D-EIRENE cases, where the effect of the power deficit in the divertor was less important. Subtle effects of interplay among mechanisms involving neutral circulation in the divertor and in the main chamber wall are considered to explain differences between ILW and W wall cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work discusses the possible mechanisms that have led to the degradation of the pedestal pressure height and pedestal stability of low triangularity peeling-ballooning (PB) limited pla-smas from JET with the carbon wall (JET-C) to JET with the ITER-like wall (JET-ILW). The work shows that the lower pedestal stability of JET-ILW is not directly caused by the presence of a metal wall, but rather due to the operational constraints that require operation with high gas fuelling. Recent results have suggested the possible role of the distance between the density and temperature pedestal positions (nepos − Tepos, also called the 'relative shift') with increasing gas fuelling rate on the PB stability of JET-ILW baseline plasmas (Stefanikova et al 2018 Nucl. Fusion 58 056010). The work further extends the analysis of the role of the relative shift, showing that it plays an important role in the difference between the pedestal performance of JET-C and JET-ILW. Moreover, the work also shows that the pedestal density neped, Zeff, and pedestal pressure width wpe play an important role in this difference. The pedestal structure and stability have been studied both experimentally and by modelling. The modelling shows that the changes in nepos − Tepos, neped, Zeff, and wpe are sufficient to explain the differences in the pedestal performance between JET-C and JET-ILW PB limited discharges. A hypothesis describing the possible mechanisms leading to the degradation of the pedestal pressure and stability from JET-C to JET-ILW in PB limited plasmas is put forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a dedicated study of plasma-antenna (PA) coupling with the Alfvén Eigenmode Active Diagnostic (AEAD) in JET. Stable AEs and their resonant frequencies f, damping rates γ < 0, and toroidal mode numbers n are measured for various PA separations and limiter versus X-point magnetic configurations. Two stable AEs are observed to be resonantly excited at distinct low and high frequencies in limiter plasmas. The values of f and n do not vary with PA separation. However, |γ| increases with PA separation for the low-f, but not high-f, mode, yet this may be due to slightly different edge conditions. The high-f AE is detected throughout the transition from limiter to X-point configuration, though its damping rate increases; the low-f mode, on the other hand, becomes unidentifiable. The linear, resistive MHD code CASTOR is used to simulate the frequency scan of an AEAD-like external antenna. For the limiter pulses, the high-f mode is determined to be an n = 0 GAE, while the low-f mode is likely an n = 2 TAE. During the transition from limiter to X-point configuration, CASTOR indicates that n = 1 and 2 EAEs are excited in the edge gap. These results extend previous experimental studies in JET and Alcator C-Mod; validate the computational work performed by Dvornova et al (2020 Phys. Plasmas 27 012507); and provide guidance for the optimization of PA coupling in upcoming JET energetic particle experiments, for which the AEAD will aim to identify the contribution of alpha particles to AE drive during the DT campaign. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transport modelling, for two dimensionless collisionality scaling experiments at the Joint European Torus (JET) and DIII-D with three discharges each, is presented. Experimental data from JET (Tala et al 2019 Nucl. Fusion 59 126030) and DIII-D (Mordijck et al 2020 Nucl. Fusion 60 066019) show a dissimilar dependence in the density peaking from the source and turbulent transport. The discharges from the JET collisionality scan show that the source is dominant for the density peaking, which is contrary to DIII-D where the transport is the main cause for the peaking. In this article, the different dependency on the source is studied by investigating the zero flux density gradient (peaking factor) at radial position ρt = 0.6 and by calculating the averaged perturbed diffusion and pinch between ρt = 0.5 and ρt = 0.8. Results show that the difference of the normalized temperature gradients have the largest and considerable impact on the peaking factor. The calculated diffusion and pinch showed good match with the experimental measured perturbed values. The calculated ratio of the particle balance pinch and diffusion explained the difference in peaking from turbulent transport, a high ratio for DIII-D yielding high peaking and a low ratio for JET yielding low peaking. However the particle balance diffusion, which suppresses the peaking from the source, was high for DIII-D and low for JET. Thusly, explaining the particle source much larger impact on the peaking at JET. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sawtooth pacing with modulated ion-cyclotron resonance heating (ICRH) has been demonstrated to be very efficient in JET-ILW L-mode plasmas (Lerche et al 2017 Nucl. Fusion 57 036027, Lennholm et al 2017 Fusion Eng. Des. 123 535–40), where the main heat source in the plasma centre is provided by the RF accelerated minority ions. In H-mode plasmas with substantial neutral beam injection power, this technique is more challenging since the fast beam particles have a stabilizing effect on the sawteeth, making it more difficult to trigger a sawtooth crash by removing the additional fast particle sources induced by ICRH inside the q = 1 surface. New results from JET-ILW experiments, showing that this technique can also be used in high power H-modes with considerable success will be presented, with focus on the sawtooth triggering efficiency at different pacing frequencies and plasma parameters, both during the flat-top phase of the discharges and during the H-mode exit and plasma termination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dust generated in JET with the ITER-like wall (ILW) was collected from the divertor by vacuum cleaning and examined with ion and electron beam methods. From totally 1 g retrieved after the third ILW campaign (2015–2016) a number of specimens were prepared using sticky (adhesive) carbon tabs. The aim was to determine the distribution and amounts of constituents: from deuterium (D) to W with particular emphasis on the concentration ratio of D to other species. Two classes of particles containing deuterium were identified: (i) rich in Be and (ii) low-Z matrix without Be, that show large C concentrations with some O contribution and minor contributions from heavier elements. The D content in Be-based particles has been at the level not exceeding ≈2 at %, whereas in the C-rich particles, both in small (10–100 µm) and large conglomerates (>100 µm), the D contribution at the level of about 15 to 20 at % has been detected. W-rich particles are often accompanied by Ni, Cr and Fe and occasionally with Mo. The results clearly indicate that fuel retention in the ILW dust is predominantly associated with residual C, approximately 10–20 times greater retention was found in C-rich objects than in metal-based particles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elliptical (EAE) and toroidal Alfvén eigenmode (TAE) instabilities have been observed in hydrogen-rich JET discharges of the D-(3He)-H ion cyclotron resonance heating (ICRH) scenario, which is characterized by strong absorption of radio frequency waves at very low concentrations of the resonant 3He-ions. In the experiments, core localized TAEs with a frequency fTAE ≈ 280 kHz with mode numbers n= 3, 4, 5 and 6 were detected. Following the phase with TAE excitation, EAE modes at higher frequencies fEAE ≈ 550–580 kHz with mode numbers n = 1, 3, 5 were seen. These high frequency modes indicate that a MeV range population of trapped energetic ions was present in the plasma. The experimental evidence of existence of the MeV-energy 3He-ions able to excite the AEs is provided by neutron and gamma-ray diagnostics as well as fast ion loss measurements. The ICRH modelling code calculations confirm the acceleration of 3He-ions to MeV energies. The magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) analysis results are consistent with the experimental data showing that the MeV 3He ions satisfy to resonant conditions interacting with TAE and EAE modes. This experiment demonstrates the efficient plasma heating mimicking the conditions representative for the ITER plasmas and contribute to the understanding of fast-ion interaction with MHD wave modes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disruptions are a major threat to future tokamaks including ITER. They generate excessive electromagnetic forces, heat loads and multi-MeV runaway electrons. The runaway electron beam carries the risk of in-vessel component damage and even the structures beyond them. Thus, prevention of the runaway beam generation or the mitigation of the developed beam is of prime importance. In JET ITER-like wall, the runaway electron beams triggered by massive gas injection (MGI) coexists with a cold background plasma. Lines corresponding to the higher ionization states of argon are observed in VUV spectra outside of the runaway region suggesting a hot background plasma.Using the quantitative analysis of the VUV spectroscopy, the temperature profiles of the background plasmas are estimated using a synthetic line ratios method. The background plasmas at JET-ILW are found to be hotter than other tokamaks where mitigation of the runaway electron beam was unconditionally successful. The volume-averaged Te is found to increase linearly with the gas amount used to trigger the disruption and the electron density in the far scrape-off layer. It is independent of other background plasma properties. A 0D/1D power balance of the post-disruption physical systems is made using the characteristics of the background plasma. The collisional power loss of the runaway electron beam is the primary power source heating the background plasma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Combining high plasma core performance with a suitable power exhaust solution is one of the major challenges in magnetic confinement fusion research. One of the most important power exhaust parameters is the power fall-off length in the scrape-off layer. Two infrared thermography based power fall-off length data sets from JET operated with carbon and ITER-like wall are revisited and compared to recently published scaling laws as well as to confinement and pedestal top parameters. It is shown that the power fall-off length is correlated to confinement, with the highest correlation among the tested parameters being the pedestal top density. The power fall-off length decreases with increasing pedestal top density in variance to the multi-machine scaling law. A similar trend is observed for the pedestal top pressure. This is in agreement with findings at C-Mod showing a scaling of the power fall-off length in various confinement regimes with the volume averaged pressure. Further, it is shown that a variation of the safety factor at constant pedestal top density is not changing the power fall-off length significantly in the two JET data sets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parametric dependencies of the linear stability of toroidal Alfvén eigenmode (TAE) in the presence of neutral beam injection (NBI) are investigated to understand the beam drive and damping effect of TAEs in JET and KSTAR. It is found that the results depend on the drift orbit width of the beam-ions normalized to the characteristic mode widths. In addition, an analytic expression of the linear growth rate of TAE driven by ion cyclotron resonance heating (ICRH) fast ions is derived. The developed model is applied to the linear stability analysis of a time-varying JET discharge where both the beam damping and the drive are observed with NBI and ICRH. It can successfully reproduce the experimental observations in spite of simple approximations such as the slowing-down distribution for beam-ions and bi-Maxwellian for ICRH fast ions. We note that strong interaction of TAE with beam occurs in plasmas with rather high density with favorable for the resonance condition,. The developed model can allow fast estimation of the linear stability of TAEs, so it should be useful for optimizing the scenarios and feedback control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent measurements of the Lyβ/Dα ratio in the JET ITER-like wall (ILW) divertor show comparatively more pronounced Lyβ reabsorption relative to previous results in JET with the carbon wall (JET-C). At the outer horizontal target ion current rollover point a Lyβ reabsorption rate of 60% is measured, increasing to 80% in more pronounced detachment, implying a Lyα reabsorption rate of 90%–98%. The radially resolved Lyβ/Dα measurements are used to constrain Lyman opacity corrections to atomic rate coefficients using the population escape factor technique in order to capture the local changes to the excited state population structure in the high Lyman opacity regions at and outboard of the outer strike point. To check the self-consistency of the Lyman opacity measurements, a detailed spectroscopic interpretation of the outer divertor particle balance is presented, in which the impact of opacity corrections to the Lyα inverse photon efficiency coefficients is assessed. A five-fold deficit in the estimated D+ source rate obtained with optically thin plasma assumptions is reconciled once the opacity corrections are factored into the Lyα photon rate to ionization rate conversion. The experiment results are reproduced in EDGE2D-EIRENE density scan simulations in which an imposed ad hoc Lyman reabsorption rate is recovered spectroscopically using synthetic measurements, and a similar shortfall in the D+ source rate estimates is reconciled using Lyman opacity corrected atomic data. The model limitations prevent a more detailed self-consistent analysis of the Lyman opacity impact on divertor parameters and detachment evolution, and hence motivate renewed efforts to re-establish routine exploitation of the photon transport modelling capabilities in the EIRENE code package. Lyman opacity corrections to atomic data coefficients are necessary for spectroscopic interpretation of the JET-ILW divertor plasma, with significant influence on the divertor plasma also a likely consequence of the presence of strong Lyα reabsorption. Finally, a scan of auxiliary heating powers spanning L-mode and H-mode conditions reveals a strong correlation of the measured Lyβ opacity with the outer target temperature, suggesting new possibilities for using Lyman opacity measurements in establishing detachment scalings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After vertical displacement events (VDEs) in the JET-ILW tokamak, debris is produced in liquid form and ejected from the vessels beryllium upper dump plates (UDPs). Most of the droplets splash near the UDPs outboard tile 8 as documented by an in-vessel photographic survey. Moreover, the systematic collection of 'dust' from the main chamber and the divertor region provides evidence of small solid spherical Be particles and flat splats (with fairly circular, 'pancake-like', or elongated shapes) related to melting events (with a diameter of few µm prior the deposition). The migration of metallic Be is studied with the numerical code DUSTTRACK, capable of describing the full droplet dynamics in a non-stationary tokamak plasma configuration. The description of the JET plasma during the VDE proposed here allows for a sufficiently consistent reconstruction of the transient conditions of the background plasma, relying on actual physical measurements. Due to the lack of experimental data related to the initial properties of the ejecta, the statistically relevant sample of 4×105 particles was considered in the DUSTTRACK simulations. A reasonable fit of the initial parameters for the ejected droplets, as well as the time-dependent plasma parameters for the VDE resulted in good qualitative agreement with the post-mortem experimental findings from dust collectors and with the Be deposition pattern near UDPs on the low-field side. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A neural network (NN) has been trained on the inference of the edge electron density profiles from measurements of the JET lithium beam emission spectroscopy (Li-BES) diagnostic. The novelty of the approach resides in the fact that the network has been trained to be a fast surrogate model of an existing Bayesian model of the diagnostic implemented within the Minerva framework. Previous work showed the very first application of this method to an x-ray imaging diagnostic at the W7-X experiment, and it was argued that the method was general enough that it may be applied to different physics systems. Here, we try to show that the claim made there is valid. What makes the approach general and versatile is the common definition of different models within the same framework. The network is tested on data measured during several different pulses and the predictions compared to the results obtained with the full model Bayesian inference. The NN analysis only requires tens of microseconds on a GPU compared to the tens of minutes long full inference. Finally, in relation to what was presented in the previous work, we demonstrate an improvement in the method of calculation of the network uncertainties, achieved by using a state-of-the-art deep learning technique based on a variational inference interpretation of the network training. The advantage of this calculation resides in the fact that it relies on fewer assumptions, and no extra computation time is required besides the conventional network evaluation time. This allows estimating the uncertainties also in real time applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Byline: A. Murari, J. Vega, G. De Arcas, G. Vagliasindi, JET EFDA contributors Thermonuclear plasmas are complex and highly nonlinear physical objects and, therefore, are the most advanced present-day devices for the study of magnetic confinement fusion. Thousands of signals have to be acquired for each experiment in order to progress the understanding that is indispensable for the final reactor. On the other hand, the resulting massive databases, more than 40 Tbytes in the case of the Joint European Torus (JET) Joint Undertaking, pose significant problems. In this paper, solutions to reduce the sheer amount of data by different compression techniques and adaptive sampling frequency architectures are presented. As an example of methods capable of providing significant help in data analysis and real-time control, a Classification and Regression Tree (CART) software is applied to the problem of regime identification to discriminate in an automatic way whether the plasma is in the Low (L) or High (H) confinement mode.