Plasma density and temperature evolution following the H-mode transition at JET and implications for ITER

Abstract

The build-up of plasma parameters following the H-mode transition in JET has been analysed in view of its consequences for the alpha power evolution in the access to burning plasma conditions in ITER. JET experiments show that the build-up of plasma temperature both at the plasma core and the plasma edge occurs in timescales comparable to the energy confinement time. In contrast, the evolution of the edge and core densities differs strongly depending on the level of plasma current in the discharge and of the associated NBI penetration. For higher plasma current H-mode discharges (Ip > 2.0–2.5 MA, depending on plasma shape), with naturally higher plasma densities for which NBI penetration is poorer, the core density evolves in much longer timescales than the edge density leading to the formation of rather hollow density profiles. These hollow density profiles persist for timescales of several energy confinement times until they are usually terminated by a sawtooth. Modelling of the JET experiments with JETTO shows that the density build-up following the H-mode transition can be described with a purely diffusive model, despite the low collisionalities of high current H-mode plasmas at JET. The consequences of these JET experimental/modelling findings for the access to burning plasma conditions in the ITER QDT = 10 scenario are presented.