ELM frequency dependence on toroidal rotation in the grassy ELM regime in JT-60U

Abstract

A systematic study of the effect of the level of toroidal plasma rotation at the top of the ion temperature pedestal () on the edge localised mode (ELM) characteristics in JT-60U has been performed. The level of toroidal plasma rotation was varied by using different combinations of tangential and perpendicular neutral beam injection (NBI). In the grassy ELM regime at high triangularity (δ) and high safety factor (q), the ELM frequency clearly increased up to ∼1400 Hz, when counter (ctr) plasma rotation was increased. The response of the ELM frequency was independent of poloidal beta (βp) in the range 0.84 < βp < 1.88 at δ > 0.53. Even in non-rotating plasma with balanced-NBIs, a high ELM frequency of ∼400 Hz was observed without a large energy loss. When the frequency of the plasma rotation in the co-direction of the plasma current became higher than ∼1 kHz, type I ELMs with a frequency of ∼20 Hz was observed. The achieved pedestal pressure and plasma confinement were similar both in plasmas with type I ELMs and in plasmas with grassy ELMs. The energy loss due to grassy ELMs was evaluated from the reduction in the electron temperature, and the ratio of the energy loss to the pedestal stored energy was less than 1%.