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Measurements of beam driven Alfvén Eigenmode (AE) activity in matched deuterium (D) and hydrogen (H) DIII-D plasmas show a dramatic difference in unstable mode activity and fast ion transport for a given injected beam power. The dependence of the unstable AE spectrum in reversed magnetic shear plasmas on beam and thermal species is investigated in the current ramp by varying beam power in a sequence of discharges for fixed thermal and beam species at fixed density. In general, a spectrum of Reversed Shear Alfvén Eigenmodes (RSAEs) and Toroidal Alfvén Eigenmodes (TAEs) are driven unstable with sub-Alfvénic D beam injection while primarily only RSAEs are driven unstable for the H beam cases investigated. Further, for a given beam power, the driven AE amplitude is always reduced with H beams relative to D and for H thermal plasma relative to pure D or mixed D/H plasmas. Estimates of the fast ion stored energy combined with modeling using the hybrid kinetic-MHD code MEGA indicate that the dominant mechanism contributing to the difference between H and D beam drive is the faster classical slowing down of H beam ions relative to D and the resultant lower beam ion pressure. Calculations of the AE induced stored energy deficits using the reduced critical gradient model TGLFEP show quantitative agreement with the observed dependencies on injected power, isotope and minimum safety factor.

Sawteeth are one of the concerning instabilities in ITER and future burning plasma experiments. Sawtooth dynamics and its interaction with broadband plasma turbulence has been a challenge for predictive simulations of core transport in future fusion devices. This study provides new observations of core turbulence behavior during sawtooth oscillations in DIII-D hydrogen L-mode neutral beam injection heated plasmas in an inner wall limited configuration. A strong correlation of electron temperature and density turbulence levels with the sawtooth oscillation phase has been observed at locations inside the T _e inversion radius and/or safety factor q = 1 magnetic surface. The T _e turbulence amplitude in the core during the sawtooth ramp exhibits a critical T _e gradient behavior inside but not near the T _e inversion radius/ q = 1 magnetic surface. The most unstable mode calculated from the trapped gyro-landau fluid turbulence simulations reveal a change from low- k ion-type to low-k electron-type modes from pre- to post- sawtooth crash time periods.

Alfvén Eigenmodes-driven fast-ion flows have been measured for the first time at the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak using an imaging neutral particle analyzer. The flow is such that particles are expelled from the mode location, losing energy as they move outwards. This flow aligns well with the projection of the lines of constant magnetic moment and constant E ′ ( $E^{^{\prime}} = E - \omega P_\phi/n$ , with E being the particle energy, $\omega, n$ the mode frequency and toroidal number and P _φ the toroidal canonical angular momentum). The observed redistributions are consistent with full-orbit simulations performed with the ASCOT5 code, using the mode structure predicted by the linear gyro-kinetic code LIGKA.

Experiments performed during strongly-shaped high-power diverted negative triangularity (NT) experiments in DIII-D achieved detached divertor conditions and a transient-free edge, showcasing the potential for application of NT to a core-edge integrated reactor-like scenario and providing the first characterization of the parametric dependencies for detachment onset. Detached divertor conditions will be required in future devices to mitigate divertor heat fluxes. Access to dissipative divertor conditions was investigated via an increase in upstream density. Detachment onset at the outer strike point was achieved with H-mode level confinement $H_{98-y2}\sim 1$ and reactor-relevant normalized pressures $\beta_\mathrm N \sim 2$ . Confinement degradation was observed with deeper detachment, associated with the loss of an electron temperature pedestal. Differences in geometry, radial transport, impact of cross field drifts are discussed to explain differences in access to detachment in NT discharges. Higher normalized densities, with respect to equivalent discharges in positive triangularity, were necessary to achieve detachment, partially explained by the shorter parallel connection length to the targets. The effect of cross-field particle drifts ( E × B , B $\times \nabla$ B ) on access to detachment was demonstrated by the lower upstream density needed to access detachment with ion B $\times \nabla$ B drift directed outside of the active divertor (Greenwald fraction $f_{\mathrm{Gw}}\sim$ 0.9–1.0 vs $f_{\mathrm{Gw}}\sim$ 1.3). The upstream density at detachment onset was observed to increase linearly with plasma current with ion B $\times \nabla$ B drift into the divertor, consistent with the observed narrowing of the scrape-off layer heat flux width λ _q . Edge fluid simulations capture separatrix densities needed to achieve detachment in NT plasma and their dependence on drift direction. The ability to reproduce detachment dynamics in NT plasma increases the confidence in future design studies for NT divertors.

A newly-developed Imaging Neutral Particle Analyzer (INPA) in the DIII-D tokamak interrogates phase space occupied by fast ions on multiple different orbit topologies, including passing, stagnation, trapped and potato orbits. Depending on plasma parameters and beam injection geometries, this new INPA system is capable of visualizing distributions of fast ions on the selected orbit topology and its associated orbit topological boundaries. More importantly, the system is able to directly visualize the effective pitch angle scattering ν _eff in phase space by measuring fast ions that are scattered across the trapped-passing orbit topological boundaries and from counter-passing orbits to co-passing orbits. It also enables visualization of fast ion confined-loss boundaries and resolves the change of the boundary in phase space, as plasma equilibrium evolves. The key goal of this new INPA system is to directly measure ν _eff across phase space induced by drift waves and its interaction with Alfvén eigenmodes, i.e. a key issue towards a future fusion power plant.

The impact of electron cyclotron current drive (ECCD)-driven current on toroidicity-induced Alfvén eigenmodes (TAEs) in experiments on the AUG tokamak is investigated numerically. The dynamical evolution of the plasma profiles and equilibria are modelled with European transport solver, while ion cyclotron resonance heating-accelerated H-minority ions exciting TAEs are assessed with the PION code. TAEs, their drive and damping are computed with the codes CASTOR and CASTOR-K. In the set of discharges analysed, two groups of TAEs are observed, differing in frequency and radial location. Experimental observations show that when counter-ECCD is applied the higher frequency group of approximately 150 kHz is suppressed, while the lower frequency modes of 125 kHz are amplified. When co-ECCD is applied, depending on the location of the ECCD current deposition layer, both groups of TAE can be suppressed. Numerical calculations of energetic particle drive and thermal plasma damping show that neither one effect could explain the variety of the experimental observations. The fine balance between the drive, sensitive to the TAE position, and the radiative and continuum damping effects could only explain the experiment if the effects are considered all together.

Transport of fast ions along certain local phase space paths, referred to as fast ion phase-space flow, has been systematically measured by an imaging neutral particle analyzer (INPA) in three plasma regimes, which are well-below, near, and well-above the Alfvén eigenmode stability threshold (Du et al 2021 Phys. Rev. Lett. 127 235002). (1) In plasmas well-below the Alfvén eignenmodes (AE) stability threshold, fast ions are well-confined on passing particle orbits without noticeable transport over the phase space. The observed INPA images agree well with the synthetic INPA images, using the fast ion distribution predicted by neoclassical theory. (2) In plasmas near the AE stability threshold, INPA images in the presence of AE activity moderately deviate from those without AE activity. The image difference can be well interpreted by AE-driven, phase-space fast ion flow. Paths of this flow over the velocity space (or streamlines) are reconstructed by the intersection lines of curved E ʹ and µ surfaces, referred to as E ʹ and µ line (where $E^{^{\prime}} \equiv E-(\omega/n)P_{\zeta} $ ; E , P _ζ and µ are the energy, canonical toroidal momentum and magnetic moment of ions; ω and n are the angular frequency and toroidal mode number of AEs, respectively). Resonant fast ions move radially inward by gaining energy and move radially outward by losing energy and the trajectory well aligns with the E ʹ and µ lines that pass through the mode resonances near the injection energy of neutral beams. (3) In plasmas well-above the AE stability threshold, fast ion phase-space dynamics shows additional features. Fast ions are transported out of the birth positions so promptly along the streamlines that the slowing-down process from the injection energy is not observable, exhibiting strong critical gradient behavior at local phase space. As a result, the increase of electron temperature is very small, in spite of an increase of beam power by ${\sim} 45\%$ . It should be emphasized that the directions of phase-space transport, induced by AEs with different frequencies, structures and mode numbers, do not largely differ.

Coupling a high-performance core to a low heat flux divertor is a crucial step for ITER and a Fusion Pilot Plant or DEMO. Experiments in DIII-D recently expanded the steady-state hybrid scenario to high density and divertor impurity injection to study the feasibility of a radiating mantle solution. This work presents the physics basis for trade-offs between density, current drive and stability to tearing modes (TMs) at high β. EC power is crucial to tailor the plasma profiles into a passively stable state, and to eject impurities from the core. Off-axis EC depositions decrease the heating efficiency, but calculated electron heat transport coefficients show that this effect is partially mitigated by improved confinement inside the EC deposition. Additionally, the reduction in pressure is recovered by increasing the density. This favourable scaling of confinement with density was observed in high power plasmas for years, and this work provides a comprehensive explanation. ELITE predictions indicate that a path in peeling-ballooning stability opens up for certain conditions of density, power, q _95 and shaping, allowing the edge pressure to continue increasing without encountering a limit. In the core, calculated anomalous fast-ion diffusion coefficients are consistent with density fluctuation measurements in the toroidicity-induced Alfvén eigenmode range, showing that smaller fast-ion losses contribute to the enhanced confinement at high density. The edge integration study shows that divertor heat loads can be reduced with Ne and Ar injection, but this eventually triggers a cascade of n = 1, 2, 3 core TMs. We can now show that impurity radiation in the core is small and it is not the cause for the drop in confinement at high Ar and Ne injection rates. The overlap between the core TMs is consistent with the loss of pressure as estimated by the Belt model for the coupled rational surfaces. Optimization of these trade-offs has achieved plasmas with sustained H _98y2 = 1.7, f _GW = 0.7 and ∼85% mantle radiation. The scenario and its variations at higher density and on- vs off-axis EC heating has been studied as a candidate for an integrated solution for several reactor designs, such as ITER, ARC, and the ARIES-ACT1 case, showing promising results in terms of fusion power and gain.

Time-dependent integrated simulations through codes such as TRANSP are becoming an indispensable tool for the interpretation of existing experiments and predictions of optimized scenarios. For many practical cases, quantitative simulations need to include the effect of plasma instabilities on the evolution of a tokamak discharge. An example is the degradation in energetic particle (EP) confinement induced by instabilities, which in turn affects important source terms for heating, non-inductive current, and momentum in a simulation. The reduced-physics kick model provides phase-space resolved transport probability matrices to TRANSP that are used to account for enhanced EP transport by instabilities in addition to neoclassical transport. The model has recovered the measured Alfvén eigenmode (AE) spectrum on NSTX, NSTX-U and DIII-D, and has reproduced details of phase-space resolved fast ion diagnostic data measured on DIII-D for EP-driven modes and tearing modes. In general, the kick model has proven the potential of phase-space resolved EP simulations to unravel details of EP transport for detailed theory/experiment comparison and for scenario planning based on optimization of neutral beam injection parameters. In this work, the extension of the kick model to low-frequency instabilities such as tearing modes and fishbones, in addition to AEs, is assessed. The goal is to enable TRANSP simulations that retain the main effects of multiple types of instabilities through a common framework. Results from the NSTX/NSTX-U and DIII-D tokamaks show that the extension to multi-mode scenarios can expand the range of applicability of the model for more reliable, quantitative integrated simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A prompt transition of equilibrium states in a disruptive plasma is observed in the presence of three-dimensional (3D) resonant magnetic fields. A dominantly stochastic field line state heals into a 3D equilibrium with intact flux surfaces, resembling a single helicity magnetic island in the plasma core. On the other hand, the current quench process is bifurcated, i.e. from a completed quench accompanied by a vertically unstable disruption to a rapid termination of current decay followed by a full recovery to its predisruption value. This observation implies prompt stochastic fields healing through the rapid non-linear growth of a magnetic island in the plasma core may provide a plausible path for a soft-landing scenario of tokamak disruption in a high plasma current regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first energetic particle experiments in negative triangularity tokamak plasmas have been carried out on DIII-D. Alfvén eigenmode (AE) activity and associated fast ion transport comparable to that in positive triangularity is observed during the current ramp portion of all plasmas with early beam heating indicating negative triangularity does not confer a special advantage with respect to AE induced transport. In these discharges, a range of mode activity driven by the sub-Alfvénic () 80 kV neutral beams is found including beta induced Alfvén acoustic eigenmodes, beta induced Alfvén eigenmodes, reversed shear Alfvén eigenmodes (RSAEs) and toroidicity induced Alfvén eigenmodes (TAEs). Mode intermittency and possibly chirping appears to be more common than comparable positive triangularity and/or oval discharges but overall, the unstable spectra and mode amplitudes observed on magnetics, CO2 interferometry, and electron cyclotron emission in a set of matched positive and negative triangularity cases at moderate beam power is similar. Large levels of Alfvén eigenmode induced fast ion transport are found in both positive and negative triangularity with up to central fast ion pressure deficits relative to classical predictions early during the current ramp phase for discharges with 3 MW injected 80 kV neutral beam power. The deficit in both cases is reduced toward zero as the current penetrates and eventually reaches classical levels during current flattop with . Fast ion transport in negative triangularity plasmas measured using a beam modulation technique show very similar levels to those measured in oval plasmas over the range of tested beam powers (–7 MW). This similarity is found despite quite different unstable spectra in the highest beam power case where a mixture of coherent and quasi-coherent modes in the TAE frequency range are observed in negative triangularity and a spectrum of more typical narrowband TAEs and RSAEs is observed for the oval plasmas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collective ion cyclotron emission (ICE) at the ion cyclotron frequency and its harmonics is a potential passive diagnostic of the fast-ion distribution in fusion reactors. ICE is observed in most plasmas in the DIII-D tokamak and is most strongly excited by the fast ions from neutral beam injection. The conventional outboard-edge ICE is detected in H-mode plasmas. However, weaker centrally-localized ICE is measured in L-mode plasmas, including those with negative triangularity shapes. Similar ICE spectra are found with both ICE diagnostics systems, the dedicated magnetic probes and the instrumented antenna straps. Many differences in the behavior of this central ICE are generated by varying the deuterium beam injection angle into deuterium plasmas. The co-current ‘near-perpendicular’ beam excites the most central ICE from the co-current beams, with this emission detected from the fundamental to the fifth ICE harmonic. However, the counter-current ‘near-tangential’ beam destabilizes the highest amounts of centrally-localized ICE. This emission is spectrally broader than that driven by the co-current beams and is observed up to its seventh ICE harmonic. The central ICE excited by this co-current beam correlated strongly on the local electron density and related parameters (plasma current and neutron rate) and increased with deeper fast-ion loss boundaries towards the magnetic axis. This was also the case with second harmonic ICE driven by the counter-current beam but not with its stronger third harmonic emission. The central ICE harmonics destabilized by both beams are observed to have different temporal dynamics. The central ICE amplitude responds rapidly to transient MHD events; it dropped and recovered in less than a millisecond at each sawtooth event. ICE frequency splitting is triggered by both the co-current and counter-current ‘near-tangential’ beams. The data presented in this paper provide opportunities to test and validate models of excitation of ICE by energetic ions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In plasmas heated with deuterium beams a deficit of the expected fusion neutron rate is an indicator of the deterioration of the fast-ion confinement, caused, for instance, by magnetohydrodynamic instabilities. The capability of predicting this deficit during the discharge relies on the availability of real-time estimates of the neutron rate from NBI codes which must be fast and accurate at the same time. Therefore, the recently developed real-time RABBIT code for neutral beam injection (NBI) simulations has been extended to output the distribution function and calculate the neutron emission. After the description of this newly installed diagnostics in RABBIT, benchmarks with NUBEAM, a massively used and validated Monte Carlo NBI solver, are discussed on ASDEX-Upgrade and JET cases. A first application for control-room intershot analysis on DIII-D is presented, and the results are compared on a large database with a slower NUBEAM analysis. Further application possibilities, e.g. for real-time control of Alfvén eigenmodes, are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Injection of solid pellets is a key element in several aspects of the operation of a magnetic confinement plasma reactor for fusion applications, including plasma fueling, control and diagnosis. This letter reports observations demonstrating that pellet ablation can begin outside the plasma boundary, by effect of supra-thermal ions, whose orbits, under appropriate conditions, can extend well into the vacuum region. The phenomenon was recorded during plasma discharges in the DIII-D tokamak, combining pulsed modulation of heating neutral beams, with high-frequency injection of sub-millimeter lithium pellets, and it is ascribed to the large fraction of trapped beam ions associated with counter current neutral beam injection. The effect was quantitatively evaluated by means of Monte-Carlo simulations of supra-thermal ion orbits, finding that the heat-deposition was of the order of 50–100 W mm−2, in the region traversed by the lithium pellets before reaching the plasma boundary, which is consistent with the severe pellet deterioration observed for low velocity pellets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alfvén Eigenmodes (AE) and magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) modes are destabilized in DIII-D reverse magnetic shear configurations and may limit the performance of the device. We use the reduced MHD equations in a full 3D system, coupled with equations of density and parallel velocity moments for the energetic particles (with gyro-fluid closures) as well as the geodesic acoustic wave dynamics, to study the properties of instabilities observed in DIII-D reverse magnetic shear discharges. The aim of the study consists in finding ways to avoid or minimize MHD and AE activity for different magnetic field configurations and neutral beam injection (NBI) operational regimes. The simulations show at the beginning of the discharge, before the reverse shear region is formed, a plasma that is AE unstable and marginally MHD stable. As soon as the reverse shear region appears, ideal MHD modes are destabilized with a larger growth rate than the AEs. Both MHD modes and AEs coexist during the discharge, although the MHD modes are more unstable as the reverse shear region deepens. The simulations indicate the destabilization of Beta induced AE (BAE), Toroidal AE (TAE), elliptical AE (EAE) and reverse shear AE (RSAE) at different phases of the discharges, showing a reasonable agreement between the frequency range of the dominant modes in the simulations and the diagnostic measurements. A further analysis of the NBI operational regime indicates that the AE stability can be improved if the NBI injection is off axis, because on-axis injection leads to AEs with larger growth rate and frequency. In addition, decreasing the beam energy or increasing the NBI relative density (the ratio between the energetic particle and thermal plasma density) leads to AEs with larger growth rate and frequency, so an NBI operation in the weakly resonant regime requires higher beam energies than in the experiment (). The MHD linear stability can be also improved if the reverse shear region and the q profile near the magnetic axis are in between the rational surfaces q  =  2 and q  =  1, particularly if there is a region in the core with negative shear, avoiding a flat q profile near the magnetic axis. The simulations also show a smooth transition between MHD modes and low frequency AE, no critical , pointing out an overlap between MHD and AE activity for modes with frequencies lower than 30 kHz. This is in the range of beta acoustic Alfven eigenmodes (BAAE) and BAE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A real-time Alfvén eigenmode (AE) controller is designed and implemented for the first time in DIII-D. The experimental test consists of two parts: (i) open-loop and feedback control using neutral beam power as an actuator and (ii) open-loop control using electron cyclotron heating (ECH) as an actuator. Part (i) demonstrates the feasibility of varying neutral beam power injected into plasma to control overall AE amplitude as well as the successful application of real-time electron cyclotron emission (ECE) as the process controller’s AE amplitude sensor. The temporal evolution of AE amplitude at a specific radial location has also been controlled by selecting a subset of the radial ECE array. Part (ii) finds a complicated dependence of AE evolution on ECH power and more dedicated investigation is needed to explore the dynamical ECH-control model. Additionally, the ratio between TRANSP calculated neutron rate and measured neutron rate is found to correspond closely with AE amplitudes in discharges with feedback control, verifying that this ratio can be another sensor for the control system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A compact scintillator-based imaging neutral particle analyzer (INPA) that provides energy and radially resolved measurements of confined fast ions has been designed and built in the DIII-D tokamak. The system measures charge-exchanged energetic neutrals by viewing an active neutral beam source through a 1D pinhole camera with a rear collimating slit that defines the neutral particle collection sightline and radial positions probed in the plasma. The incident neutrals are ionized by ultra-thin carbon stripping foils of 10 nm thickness with the local tokamak magnetic field acting as a magnetic spectrometer to disperse the ions onto a scintillator. The strike position on the phosphor is determined by the fast ion energy and sightline while the intensity of emitted light from the phosphor is proportional to the ion flux. Fast camera measurements of the scintillator provide 2D images of the escaping neutrals mapped to energy and radial position in the plasma. The INPA system images a broad radial range from the plasma core to edge and deuterium energies up to 80 keV, with energy resolution of  ∼7.5 keV and pitch angle resolution of  ∼5°. The first data obtained from the INPA demonstrates that the system has excellent signal to noise ratio and provides unprecedented details of phase space dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modulation of various neutral beam sources probes the interaction of fast ions with tearing modes (TM) in the DIII-D tokamak. As measured by electron cyclotron emission, the tearing modes have an island width of  ∼8 cm and change phase at the q  =  2 surface. (Here, m is the poloidal mode number and n is the toroidal mode number.) Deuterium neutral beam injection by six sources with differing injection geometries produces the fast ions. To study the interaction in different parts of phase space, on successive discharges, one of the six sources is modulated at 20 Hz to populate different fast-ion orbits. The modulation only changes the island width by a few millimeters, implying that any fast-ion effect on mode stability is below detection limits. When compared to the expected signals in the absence of TM-induced transport, both the average and modulated neutron signals deviate, implying that fast-ion transport occurs in much of phase space. Fast-ion Dα (FIDA) measurements detect reductions in signal at wavelengths that are sensitive to counter-passing ions. Neutral particle analyzer data imply poor confinement of trapped fast ions. Calculations of the expected fast-ion transport that use measured TM properties successfully reproduce the data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experiments in the DIII-D tokamak show that many overlapping small-amplitude Alfvén eigenmodes (AEs) cause fast-ion transport to sharply increase above a critical threshold in beam power, leading to fast-ion density profile resilience and reduced fusion performance. The threshold is above the AE linear stability limit and varies between diagnostics that are sensitive to different parts of fast-ion phase-space. Comparison with theoretical analysis using the nova and orbit codes shows that, for the neutral particle diagnostic, the threshold corresponds to the onset of stochastic particle orbits due to wave-particle resonances with AEs in the measured region of phase space. The bulk fast-ion distribution and instability behavior was manipulated through variations in beam deposition geometry, and no significant differences in the onset threshold outside of measurement uncertainties were found, in agreement with the theoretical stochastic threshold analysis. Simulations using the ‘kick model’ produce beam ion density gradients consistent with the empirically measured radial critical gradient and highlight the importance of including the energy and pitch dependence of the fast-ion distribution function in critical gradient models. The addition of electron cyclotron heating changes the types of AEs present in the experiment, comparatively increasing the measured fast-ion density and radial gradient. These studies provide the basis for understanding how to avoid AE transport that can undesirably redistribute current and cause fast-ion losses, and the measurements are being used to validate AE-induced transport models that use the critical gradient paradigm, giving greater confidence when applied to ITER. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We show that the degradation of fast-ion confinement in steady-state DIII-D discharges is quantitatively consistent with predictions based on the effects of multiple unstable Alfvén eigenmodes on beam-ion transport. Simulation and experiment show that increasing the radius where the magnetic safety factor has its minimum is effective in minimizing beam-ion transport. This is favorable for achieving high performance steady-state operation in DIII-D and future reactors. A comparison between the experiments and a critical gradient model, in which only equilibrium profiles were used to predict the most unstable modes, show that in a number of cases this model reproduces the measured neutron rate well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A general criterion is proposed and found to successfully predict the emergence of chirping oscillations of unstable Alfvénic eigenmodes in tokamak plasma experiments. The model includes realistic eigenfunction structure, detailed phase-space dependences of the instability drive, stochastic scattering and the Coulomb drag. The stochastic scattering combines the effects of collisional pitch angle scattering and micro-turbulence spatial diffusion. The latter mechanism is essential to accurately identify the transition between the fixed-frequency mode behavior and rapid chirping in tokamaks and to resolve the disparity with respect to chirping observation in spherical and conventional tokamaks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A first-ever demonstration of controlling power and torque injection through time evolution of neutral beam energy has been achieved in recent experiments at the DIII-D tokamak (Luxon 2002 Nucl. Fusion42 614). Pre-programmed waveforms for the neutral beam energy produce power and torque inputs that can be separately and continuously controlled. Previously, these inputs were tailored using on/off modulation of neutral beams resulting in large perturbations (e.g. power swings of over 1 MW). The new method includes, importantly for experiments, the ability to maintain a fixed injected power while varying the torque. In another case, different beam energy waveforms (in the same plasma conditions) produce significant changes in the observed spectrum of beam ion-driven instabilities. Measurements of beam ion loss show that one energy waveform results in the complete avoidance of coherent losses due to Alfvénic instabilities. This new method of neutral beam operation is intended for further application in a variety of DIII-D experiments including those concerned with high-performance steady state scenarios, fast particle effects, and transport in the low torque regime. Developing this capability would provide similar benefits and improved plasma control for other magnetic confinement fusion facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recent DIII-D experiment investigating the impact of electron cyclotron heating (ECH) on neutral beam driven reversed shear Alfvén eigenmode (RSAE) activity is presented. The experiment includes variations of ECH injection location and timing, current ramp rate, beam injection geometry (on/off-axis), and neutral beam power. Essentially all variations carried out in this experiment were observed to change the impact of ECH on AE activity significantly. In some cases, RSAEs were observed to be enhanced with ECH near the off-axis minimum in magnetic safety factor (), in contrast to the original DIII-D experiments where the modes were absent when ECH was deposited near . It is found that during intervals when the geodesic acoustic mode (GAM) frequency at is elevated and the calculated RSAE minimum frequency, including contributions from thermal plasma gradients, is very near or above the nominal TAE frequency (fTAE), RSAE activity is not observed or RSAEs with a much reduced frequency sweep range are found. This condition is primarily brought about by ECH modification of the local electron temperature (Te) which can raise both the local Te at as well as its gradient. A q-evolution model that incorporates this reduction in RSAE frequency sweep range is in agreement with the observed spectra and appears to capture the relative balance of TAE or RSAE-like modes throughout the current ramp phase of over 38 DIII-D discharges. Detailed ideal MHD calculations using the NOVA code show both modification of plasma pressure and pressure gradient at play an important role in modifying the RSAE activity. Analysis of the ECH injection near the case where no frequency sweeping RSAEs are observed shows the typical RSAE is no longer an eigenmode of the system. What remains is an eigenmode with poloidal harmonic content reminiscent of the standard RSAE, but absent of the typical frequency sweeping behavior. The remaining eigenmode is also often strongly coupled to gap TAEs. Analysis with the non-perturbative gyro fluid code TAEFL confirms this change in RSAE activity and also shows a large drop in the resultant mode growth rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fast ion pressure profiles flattened by multiple Alfvén eigenmodes (AEs) are investigated for various neutral beam deposition powers in a multi-phase simulation, which is a combination of classical simulation and hybrid simulation for energetic particles interacting with a magnetohydrodynamic fluid. Monotonic degradation of fast ion confinement and fast ion profile stiffness is found with increasing beam deposition power. The confinement degradation and profile stiffness are caused by a sudden increase in fast ion transport flux brought about by AEs for fast ion pressure gradients above a critical value. The critical pressure gradient and the corresponding beam deposition power depend on the radial location. The fast ion pressure gradient stays moderately above the critical value, and the profiles of the fast ion pressure and fast ion transport flux spread radially outward from the inner region, where the beam is injected. It is found that the square root of the MHD fluctuation energy is proportional to the beam deposition power. Analysis of the time evolutions of the fast ion energy flux profiles reveals that intermittent avalanches take place with contributions from the multiple eigenmodes. Surface of section plots demonstrate that the resonance overlap of multiple eigenmodes accounts for the sudden increase in fast ion transport with increasing beam power. The critical gradient and critical beam power for the profile stiffness are substantially higher than the marginal stability threshold. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fast-ion signals produced by a modulated neutral beam are used to infer fast-ion transport. The measured quantity is the divergence of perturbed fast-ion flux from the phase-space volume measured by the diagnostic, . Since velocity-space transport often contributes to this divergence, the phase-space sensitivity of the diagnostic (or ‘weight function’) plays a crucial role in the interpretation of the signal. The source and sink make major contributions to the signal but their effects are accurately modelled by calculations that employ an exponential decay term for the sink. Recommendations for optimal design of a fast-ion transport experiment are given, illustrated by results from DIII-D measurements of fast-ion transport by Alfvén eigenmodes. The signal-to-noise ratio of the diagnostic, systematic uncertainties in the modeling of the source and sink, and the non-linearity of the perturbation all contribute to the error in . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The redistribution and potential loss of energetic particles due to MHD modes can limit the performance of fusion plasmas by reducing the plasma heating rate. In this work, we present validation studies of the 1.5D critical gradient model (CGM) for Alfvén eigenmode (AE) induced EP transport in NSTX and DIII-D neutral beam heated plasmas. In previous comparisons with a single DIII-D L-mode case, the CGM model was found to be responsible for 75% of measured AE induced neutron deficit [1]. A fully kinetic HINST is used to compute mode stability for the non-perturbative version of CGM (or nCGM). We have found that AEs show strong local instability drive up to violating assumptions of perturbative approaches used in NOVA-K code. We demonstrate that both models agree with each other and both underestimate the neutron deficit measured in DIII-D shot by approximately a factor of 2. On the other hand in NSTX the application of CGM shows good agreement for the measured flux deficit predictions. We attempt to understand these results with the help of the so-called kick model which is based on the guiding center code ORBIT. The kick model comparison gives important insight into the underlying velocity space dependence of the AE induced EP transport as well as it allows the estimate of the neutron deficit in the presence of the low frequency Alfvénic modes. Within the limitations of used models we infer that there are missing modes in the analysis which could improve the agreement with the experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent EAST/DIII-D joint experiments on the high poloidal beta tokamak regime in DIII-D have demonstrated fully noninductive operation with an internal transport barrier (ITB) at large minor radius, at normalized fusion performance increased by  ⩾30% relative to earlier work (Politzer et al 2005 Nucl. Fusion45 417). The advancement was enabled by improved understanding of the ‘relaxation oscillations’, previously attributed to repetitive ITB collapses, and of the fast ion behavior in this regime. It was found that the ‘relaxation oscillations’ are coupled core-edge modes amenable to wall-stabilization, and that fast ion losses which previously dictated a large plasma-wall separation to avoid wall over-heating, can be reduced to classical levels with sufficient plasma density. By using optimized waveforms of the plasma-wall separation and plasma density, fully noninductive plasmas have been sustained for long durations with excellent energy confinement quality, bootstrap fraction  ⩾80%, , , and . These results bolster the applicability of the high poloidal beta tokamak regime toward the realization of a steady-state fusion reactor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fast-ion transport caused by the combination of MHD and a mock-up test-blanket module (TBM) coil is measured in the DIII-D tokamak. The primary diagnostic is an infrared camera that measures the heat flux on the tiles surrounding the coil. The combined effects of the TBM and four other potential sources of transport are studied: neoclassical tearing modes, Alfén eigenmodes, sawteeth, and applied resonant magnetic perturbation fields for the control of edge localized modes. A definitive synergistic effect is observed at sawtooth crashes where, in the presence of the TBM, the localized heat flux at a burst increases from to MW m−2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Measurements show fast ion losses correlated with applied three-dimensional (3D) fields in a variety of plasmas ranging from L-mode to resonant magnetic perturbation (RMP) edge localized mode (ELM) suppressed H-mode discharges. In DIII-D L-mode discharges with a slowly rotating magnetic perturbation, scintillator detector loss signals synchronized with the applied fields are observed to decay within one poloidal transit time after beam turn-off indicating they arise predominantly from prompt loss orbits. Full orbit following using M3D-C1 calculations of the perturbed fields and kinetic profiles reproduce many features of the measured losses and points to the importance of the applied 3D field phase with respect to the beam injection location in determining the overall impact on prompt beam ion loss. Modeling of these results includes a self-consistent calculation of the 3D perturbed beam ion birth profiles and scrape-off-layer ionization, a factor found to be essential to reproducing the experimental measurements. Extension of the simulations to full slowing down timescales, including fueling and the effects of drag and pitch angle scattering, show the applied RMPs in ELM suppressed H-mode plasmas can induce a significant loss of energetic particles from the core. With the applied fields, up to 8.4% of the injected beam power is predicted to be lost, compared to 2.7% with axisymmetric fields only. These fast ions, originating from minor radii , are predicted to be primarily passing particles lost to the divertor region, consistent with wide field-of-view infrared periscope measurements of wall heating in RMP ELM suppressed plasmas. Edge fast ion (FIDA) measurements also confirm a large change in edge fast ion profile due to the fields, where the effect was isolated by using short 50 ms RMP-off periods during which ELM suppression was maintained yet the fast ion profile was allowed to recover. The role of resonances between fast ion drift motion and the applied 3D fields in the context of selectively targeting regions of fast ion phase space is also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A multi-phase simulation that is a combination of classical simulation and hybrid simulation for energetic particles interacting with a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) fluid is developed to simulate the nonlinear dynamics on the slowing down time scale of the energetic particles. The hybrid simulation code is extended with realistic beam deposition profile, collisions and losses, and is used for both the classical and hybrid phases. The code is run without MHD perturbations in the classical phase, while the interaction between the energetic particles and the MHD fluid is simulated in the hybrid phase. In a multi-phase simulation of DIII-D discharge #142111, the stored beam ion energy is saturated due to Alfvén eigenmodes (AE modes) at a level lower than in the classical simulation. After the stored fast ion energy is saturated, the hybrid simulation is run continuously. It is demonstrated that the fast ion spatial profile is significantly flattened due to the interaction with the multiple AE modes with amplitude v/vA ∼ δB/B ∼ O(10−4). The dominant AE modes are toroidal Alfvén eigenmodes (TAE modes), which is consistent with the experimental observation at the simulated moment. The amplitude of the temperature fluctuations brought about by the TAE modes is of the order of 1% of the equilibrium temperature. This is also comparable with electron cyclotron emission measurements in the experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On DIII-D (Luxon 2005 Fusion Sci. Technol.48 828), a high β scenario with minimum safety factor (qmin) near 1.4 has been optimized with new tools and shown to be a favourable candidate for long pulse or steady state operation in future devices. The new capability to redirect up to 5 MW of neutral beam injection (NBI) from on- to off-axis improves the ability to sustain elevated qmin with a less peaked pressure profile. These changes increase the ideal magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) n = 1 mode βN limit thus providing a path forward for increasing the noninductive current drive fraction by operating at high βN. Quasi-stationary discharges free of tearing modes have been sustained at βN = 3.5 and βT = 3.6% for two current profile diffusion timescales (about 3 s) limited by neutral beam duration. The discharge performance has normalized fusion performance expected to give fusion gain Q ≈ 5 in a device the size of ITER. Analysis of the poloidal flux evolution and current drive balance show that the loop voltage profile is almost relaxed even with 25% of the current driven inductively, and qmin remains elevated near 1.4. These observations increase confidence that the current profile will not evolve to one unstable to a tearing mode. In preliminary tests a divertor heat flux reduction technique based on producing a radiating mantle with neon injection appears compatible with this operating scenario. 0D model extrapolations suggest it may be possible to push this scenario up to 100% noninductive current drive by raising βN. Similar discharges with qmin = 1.5–2 were susceptible to tearing modes and off-axis fishbones, and with qmin > 2 lower normalized global energy confinement time is observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]