Modification of the magnetic field structure of high-beta plasmas with a perturbation field in the Large Helical Device

Abstract

The effect of resonant magnetic perturbation (RMP) on MHD characteristics is investigated in high-beta plasmas of the Large Helical Device. The ramp-up and static m/n = 1/1 RMP field are applied in medium- (∼2%) and high- (∼4%) beta plasmas in order to find beta dependences of mode penetration, MHD activities and confinement. The results show that the threshold of mode penetration linearly increases with the beta value and/or plasma collisionality. The threshold of mode penetration in the RMP ramp-up experiments is roughly consistent with the static RMP case. The beta value gradually decreases with the RMP field strength before mode penetration, which is caused by a reduction in the pressure inside the ι/2π = 1 resonance. The width of the magnetic island after the penetration becomes larger than the given RMP field, and it is further enhanced by the increment of the beta value.