Evolution Of Electron Temperature Profiles Research Articles

Simulations of Evolution of Electron Temperature Profiles During Electron Cyclotron Heating of High-Temperature Plasma in Gas-Dynamic Magnetic Trap

Simulations of Evolution of Electron Temperature Profiles During Electron Cyclotron Heating of High-Temperature Plasma in Gas-Dynamic Magnetic Trap

First measurement of time evolution of electron temperature profiles with Nd:YAG Thomson scattering system on Heliotron J.

A Nd:YAG Thomson scattering system has been developed for Heliotron J. The system consists of two 550 mJ 50 Hz lasers, large collection optics, and 25 radial channel (∼1 cm spatial resolution) interference polychromators. This measurement system achieves a S/N ratio of ∼50 for low-density plasma (ne ∼ 0.5 × 10(19) m(-3)). A time evolution of electron temperature profiles was measured with this system for a high-intensity gas-puff (HIGP) fueling neutral-beam-injection plasma. The peripheral temperature of the higher-density phase after HIGP recovers to the low-density pre-HIGP level, suggesting that improving particle transport in the HIGP plasma may be possible.

Simulation of electron thermal transport in H-mode discharges

Electron thermal transport in DIII-D H-mode tokamak plasmas [J. L. Luxon, Nucl. Fusion 42, 614 (2002)] is investigated by comparing predictive simulation results for the evolution of electron temperature profiles with experimental data. The comparison includes the entire profile from the magnetic axis to the bottom of the pedestal. In the simulations, carried out using the automated system for transport analysis (ASTRA) integrated modeling code, different combinations of electron thermal transport models are considered. The combinations include models for electron temperature gradient (ETG) anomalous transport and trapped electron mode (TEM) anomalous transport, as well as a model for paleoclassical transport [J. D. Callen, Nucl. Fusion 45, 1120 (2005)]. It is found that the electromagnetic limit of the Horton ETG model [W. Horton et al., Phys. Fluids 31, 2971 (1988)] provides an important contribution near the magnetic axis, which is a region where the ETG mode in the GLF23 model [R. E. Waltz et al., Phys. Plasmas 4, 2482 (1997)] is below threshold. In simulations of DIII-D discharges, the observed shape of the H-mode edge pedestal is produced when transport associated with the TEM component of the GLF23 model is suppressed and transport given by the paleoclassical model is included. In a study involving 15 DIII-D H-mode discharges, it is found that with a particular combination of electron thermal transport models, the average rms deviation of the predicted electron temperature profile from the experimental profile is reduced to 9% and the offset to −4%.

Clear transition to high-Te state with an electron internal transport barrier creation in EC heated LHD plasmas

A transition to a high electron temperature state in the core accompanied by an electron internal transport barrier (eITB) was clearly observed in neutral beam (NB) sustained plasmas with strongly focused on-axis electron cyclotron heating (ECH) in Large Helical Device (LHD). During stepwise injection of ECH power, the core electron temperature started to build up spontaneously and became high temperature in the core (high-Te state), while the temperature outside of ρ ≃ 0.3 drastically decreased. The transition dynamics of the core temperature is analyzed by the time evolution of electron temperature profiles and heat flux changes based on the data from multi-channel electron cyclotron emission. Effect of an initial island size (m/n=2/1) on the high-Te transition was experimentally investigated by controlling the width by an external coil field. The results show that the island size possibly affects a threshold value of ECH power and collisionality on the high-Te transition.