Edge Te and ne profiles during type-I ELM mitigation experiments with perturbation fields on JET

Abstract

Edge localized mode (ELM) mitigation experiments have been carried out at JET in type-I ELMy H-mode plasmas. ELM mitigation was achieved through a stochastic edge induced by the ex-vessel error field correction coils system and was found to be independent of the distance of the plasma edge to the JET wall. In all cases the detrimental effect of the ELM on pedestal confinement was considerably reduced during the stochastization phase. The new high resolution Thomson scattering (HRTS) diagnostic, which has recently become operational at JET, is used to study the behaviour of electron temperature, density and pressure pedestal profiles during the mitigation phase. The pedestal properties are monitored in a consistent way by applying a hyperbolic tangent fit to the HRTS measurements. Stability modelling with the ELITE code using the fits to the spatially resolved pedestal profile measurements suggests that the observed ELM mitigation can be understood in terms of the peeling–ballooning model. The mitigation correlates with a reduction of the edge pressure gradient (due to both a reduced height and an increased width of the edge pressure transport barrier) which is consistent with the linear ELM stability theory. It is observed that in the case of an n = 1 external field, the barrier position and height are correlated with the toroidal direction of the applied perturbation. Agreement is found between the barrier position measured by HRTS and obtained from plasma equilibrium reconstruction. The external perturbation induces a deformation of the plasma column that is primarily toroidally symmetric with a secondary component that is toroidally asymmetric