ELM triggering by energetic particle driven mode in wall-stabilized high-β plasmas

Abstract

In the JT-60U high-β plasmas above the no-wall β limit, a triggering of an edge localized mode (ELM) by an energetic particle (EP)-driven mode has been observed. This EP-driven mode is thought to be driven by trapped EPs and it has been named EP-driven wall mode (EWM) on JT-60U (Matsunaga et al 2009 Phys. Rev. Lett. 103 045001). When the EWM appears in an ELMy H-mode phase, ELM crashes are reproducibly synchronized with the EWM bursts. The EWM-triggered ELM has a higher repetition frequency and less energy loss than those of the natural ELM. In order to trigger an ELM by the EP-driven mode, some conditions are thought to be needed, thus an EWM with large amplitude and growth rate, and marginal edge stability. In the scrape-off layer region, several measurements indicate an ion loss induced by the EWM. The ion transport is considered as the EP transport through the edge region. From these observations, the EP contributions to edge stability are discussed as one of the ELM triggering mechanisms.