Effect of electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) on toroidal rotation in ASDEX Upgrade H-mode discharges

Abstract

Core toroidal rotation behavior and momentum transport have been examined in neutral beam injection (NBI) heated plasmas with and without electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) in ASDEX Upgrade (AUG). The impurity ion temperature and rotation are measured by means of charge exchange recombination spectroscopy (CXRS) and the main ion rotation is calculated neoclassically based on the measured impurity ion temperature and rotation profiles. In purely NBI heated discharges the plasma spins up in the co-current direction and forms peaked rotation profiles. However, when ECRH power is added to these discharges the rotation decreases significantly leading to flat and occasionally slightly hollow profiles. The rotation at the edge of the plasma (ρ > 0.65) is largely unaffected by the application of the ECRH. During ECRH phases the electron temperature in the core increases dramatically concomitant with a flattening of the ion temperature profile. In these phases peaking of the impurity ion and electron density profiles is also observed. The change in toroidal rotation is sensitive to both the amount of ECRH power deposited as well as to the deposition location. The measured rotation changes cannot be explained by a modification to the NBI torque deposition profile, a preferential loss of fast ions from the plasma core, or by a simple increase in momentum diffusivity. In addition, the inward directed Coriolis momentum pinch is predicted to increase, not decrease, during the ECRH phases. Altogether, the data suggest the presence of either an outward convection of momentum or an intrinsic, counter-current directed torque. Although the physics behind these possibilities remains unclear, they are presumably related to either a convective or residual stress driven momentum flux, which responds to the ECRH-induced changes in the plasma profiles and turbulence.