What's happening at the edge of Tokamaks

Abstract

Handling the power deposition at the walls of a plasma fusion device and controlling the particle fueling of the plasma originated the interest in the edge of the plasma by magnetic fusion scientists. Recently this interest has intensified because of clear evidence that the quality of the central plasma confinement depends in unexpected ways on details of how the edge plasma is managed. Significant efforts are being pursued to understand and exploit the improved plasma confinement observed in the “H-mode” obtained with divertors and in the “super-shots” obtained with low neutral particle flux from the edge of TFTR limiter plasmas. The controls, that determine whether or not these well-confined plasmas are obtained, are applied in the edge plasma where a wealth of atomic and molecular processes occur. A qualitative overview of current research related to plasma edge and desirable features is presented to guide thoughts about atomic processes to be included in modeling and interpreting the plasma edge of tokamaks.