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KSTAR has demonstrated divertor heat flux broadening during edge-localized mode (ELM) crash suppression using ITER-like three-row resonant magnetic perturbation (RMP) for the first time. To address a couple of critical issues in ITER RMP, robust ELM-crash-suppression methodology has been explored at low q95 and established in KSTAR using low-n RMPs. Taking full advantage of the ITER-like three-row in-vessel control coils (IVCC) in KSTAR, a set of intentionally misaligned RMP configurations (IMC) was tested to investigate whether or not IMC could be compatible with ELM crash suppression, while minimizing electromagnetic loads on RMP coils. As a result, the ITER-like three-row IMCs were found not only to have been compatible with the ELM crash suppression, but also to have broadened the divertor heat fluxes in the vicinity of the outer strike point. In comparison, the two-row RMPs have rarely affected the near scrape-off layer (SOL) heat flux despite slightly broadened profile change in the far-SOL. Since the divertor heat flux broadening reflects the dispersal of the peaked near-SOL heat flux, the experimental outcome is quite favorable to the ITER choice of three rows, instead of two rows. Nonetheless, since the IMC-driven broadening observed in the attached plasmas in KSTAR might appear substantially different in the partially detached plasmas in ITER, additional investigation has been conducted to see if RMP-driven, ELM crash suppression could be compatible with detached plasmas. Although no detached plasmas have been identified with ELM crash suppression yet, significantly reduced divertor heat flux was confirmed in high density, ELM-crash-suppressed plasmas at q95  =  3.4 using n  =  2 RMPs. These new findings elevate the confidence level about the ITER RMP system, while the remaining uncertainties need to be further clarified using the three-row IVCCs in KSTAR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Meticulously orchestrated non-axisymmetric fields (δB) enabled KSTAR to explore various paths to tame plasma stability and transport in a very rigorous manner. Given an extremely low level of intrinsic non-axisymmetry, KSTAR has now established high-precision 3D field control capability that can not only robustly suppress edge localized modes (ELM) using resonant magnetic perturbation (RMP), but also exclusively alter plasma rotation without invoking particle and energy transport. In highly shaped plasmas (triangularity of δ ~ 0.6), we have secured low-n RMP-driven, ELM-crash suppressions in a wide range of edge safety factor at q95  =  3.4–6.4. One of the best n  =  1 RMP-driven, ELM-crash suppressions has been sustained for more than 30 s (comparable to wall saturation time), satisfying a low edge collisionality (ν* ~ 0.2) at Zeff  =  1, close to ITER-target. Besides a routinely used three-row RMP configuration, we have newly succeeded in suppressing ELM-crashes using n  =  1 off-midplane RMPs only, whose helical structure in vacuum appears nearly orthogonal to a typical configuration. Nonetheless, when the plasma response is factored, the off-midplane RMP configuration remains dominantly resonant. With RMP configuration fixed, a gradual torque control between ‘perpendicular’ and tangential components of neutral beams probed the onset of ELM-crash-suppression, strongly endorsing the existence of ω⊥,e ~ 0 at pedestal top as necessary condition for ELM-crash-suppression, consistent with direct measurement of ECEI. In support of ITER, KSTAR has demonstrated broadened divertor heat fluxes during ELM-crash-suppression, as well as during ELM-crash-mitigation, using intentionally misaligned RMP configurations. However, we have found that such a misaligned configuration, as had effectively broadened the divertor heat fluxes during ELM-crash-mitigation, did not show a similar broadening during ELM-crash-suppression. This suggests that the divertor heat flux during ELM-crash-suppression, governed by a bifurcated state of δB, may not be appropriately projected, based on the results of ELM-crash-mitigation, in which the linear plasma response of δB prevails. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]