Long Pulse ECH Plasma in LHD

Demonstration of a long pulse or a steady state operation of ECH and sustainment of non‐collapsed plasma only by ECH is important in LHD from both the confinement device and the heating system engineering points of view. A gyrotron with a diamond output window is introduced and operated at the power level of 150 kW for more than 1 hour after modification of the cooling and evacuation system of the ECH transmission line. The power of about 110 kW injected into LHD is used to sustain the plasma with the electron density of 1.5 × 1018 m−3 and central temperature of more than 1.0 keV for 3900 sec. The gas puffing rate is carefully controlled so that the plasma density does not exceed the critical value above which the plasma collapsed for given injection power, magnetic configuration and wall condition of LHD. The results of gyrotron operation, transmission system modification for long pulse and optimizations of the magnetic field configuration of LHD and gas puffing for a given injection condition are discussed.