Gas Puff Research Articles

Filament simulations in regions of highly-varying parallel connection length

The island divertor topology of the Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) scrape-off-layer exhibits regions of highly varying connection length. Here, we present drift-plane simulations of seeded filaments in regions of sharp transitions in parallel connection length – a parameter which dictates the propagation regime for plasma blobs. It is determined that a transition in parallel connection length alters the trajectory of filaments; filaments which enter regions of lower connection length are decelerated, and vice versa. It is also determined that if the lobes of a potential dipole created by diamagnetic drifts within the filament exist in two regions of distinct parallel connection length, the filament is then steered towards the region of higher connection length. The extreme case of a narrow region of varying connection length can also alter the trajectory of a filament, depending on the extent of this region. Finally, simulations mimicking the view from the W7-X gas puff imaging (GPI) diagnostic view plane are presented. It is determined that filaments in the view of the W7-X GPI diagnostic exhibit a predominantly poloidal propagation due to the radial electric field, since the radial velocity is relatively small.

Examination of synthetic gas puff imaging diagnostic data from a gyrokinetic turbulence code

A synthetic gas puff imaging (GPI) diagnostic has been developed for the purpose of validating the three-dimensional gyrokinetic turbulence code XGC. The synthetic diagnostic is described and applied to XGC simulations of two Alcator C-Mod discharges. The turbulence characteristics deduced from the resulting simulated GPI frames, using analysis techniques similar to those applied to experimental data, are compared with locally derived characteristics extracted directly from the XGC output. The comparison of the two is shown to be potentially impacted by misalignment between the GPI view and the magnetic field, the dependence of the light emission on the electron density and temperature, and spatial and temporal variations in the neutral gas cloud induced by the turbulent plasma fluctuations. We conclude that quantitative and, in some cases even qualitative, validation of turbulence simulations need to account for these effects. While we cannot directly compare our results with experimental data due to the absence of high quality GPI data from the shots and times simulated by XGC, we do relate the overall characteristics obtained from the synthetic GPI analysis to published Alcator C-Mod GPI data.

Investigation of multifaceted asymmetric radiation from the edge (MARFE) with impurity injection from the upper divertor on the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak

The phenomenon of multifaceted asymmetric radiation from the edge (MARFE) is investigated with impurity gas puff from the upper divertor on the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST). A typical process in which dense radiation region in the vicinity of the X point (X-point MARFE) further evolves into MARFE on the high field side (wall MARFE) after the plasma makes a transition from H-mode to L-mode confinement is observed in discharges with the impurity gas seeding. The electron density distribution and evolution in the divertor volume are measured by means of spectroscopy. It is observed in the experiments that the final position of MARFE is related to the ion ∇B drift direction. After the phase difference of n = 1 resonant magnetic perturbation (RMP) change from 90° to 270°, MARFE begins to appear on the high field side, which may be caused by the density pump-out induced by RMP. At the same heating power, the density threshold for MARFE formation is somewhat higher in the Ne seeding discharge than in the Ar seeding discharge. This may be attributed to the fact that the divertor radiation fraction, Prad,div/Prad,main, in the Ne seeding discharge is lower than that in the Ar seeding discharge. In addition, MARFE is successfully suppressed by total radiated energy feedback control in radiative divertor experiments. Therefore, radiation feedback control may play a vital role in avoiding major disruption induced by impurity radiation in radiative divertor experiments.

Real-time pedestal optimization and ELM control with 3D fields and gas flows on DIII-D

The capabilities of the DIII-D tokamak’s plasma control system (PCS) were expanded to allow for pedestal optimization and edge localized mode (ELM) control. Three proof of principle control schemes are presented that were successfully implemented and tested. These use multiple inputs from real-time (RT) diagnostics like a based ELM monitor and edge profile measurements from Thomson scattering (TS) as well as 3D, i.e. non-axisymmetric, magnetic fields and gas puffs as actuators to regulate the density pedestal.The first scheme targets to optimize the access of ELM suppression induced by non-axisymmetric magnetic perturbations (MPs). The conducted set of experiments identifies a path dependence of plasma confinement on the applied MP amplitude. The controller aims to transition into ELM suppression at the minimum 3D field amplitude and reduces it further afterwards, allowing for partial confinement recovery. Another pedestal control scheme is deployed to compensate the density ‘pump-out’ in MP ELM suppression by regulating the gas puff. This uses RT TS diagnostic data, extracting the pedestal height from the electron density () profiles and enables studies of the transition into and out of MP ELM suppression at constant density. A limit cycle behavior of edge rotation and MP amplitude persists under these conditions. The third control scheme combines MPs and gas puffs as actuators to perform pedestal density trajectory control to access Super high confinement mode (H-mode) and furthermore, allowing the integration of a radiative divertor in this regime. While MPs mainly impact the pedestal top density, the control scheme allows to loosen the tight coupling of pedestal top and separatrix density evolution.With respect to ITER, the achieved results emphasize the need for an advanced control system to keep MP amplitude close to but above the ELM suppression threshold at all times, enabling high confinement and, respectively, at high fusion energy gain factor (Q). Furthermore, pedestal control enables detailed physics studies in present-day tokamaks and allows the exploration of core-edge integrated plasma scenarios.

Self-contraction process and hot spot formation in the SHOTGUN III-U divergent gas-puff Z pinch

A divergent gas-puff Z pinch has been devised for the realization of an efficient soft x-ray point source. In this device, a divergent hollow annular gas puff is ejected outward from the surface of the inner electrode, and the plasma is compressed three-dimensionally to generate a soft x-ray point source. In the SHOTGUN III-U device at Nihon University, the power supply was enhanced, and experiments were conducted over a larger current range. The peak current at the charging voltage of −25 kV was −190 kA. Ar was used as the discharge gas. The self-contraction process of the plasma was investigated in detail using a gated camera. Near the peak current, local contraction occurred in front of the inner electrode. The contraction velocity of the plasma was 5.5 × 104 m/s. As the plasma contracted, the discharge current decreased. The energy input was analyzed by induction acceleration. The net input energy was found to be 750 J, which corresponded to 13.3% of the stored energy of the capacitor, 5630 J. The soft x-ray source was observed using a soft x-ray CCD camera. A point source was observed 7 mm in front of the inner electrode. The size of the source was 35 µm in the axial direction and 14 µm in the radial direction.

Collisionality driven turbulent particle transport changes in DIII-D H-mode plasmas

The results of the experimental dimensionless scan in this paper confirm that there is an increase in density peaking towards lower collisionality and that this can be partly linked to a shift in the turbulence regime from ITG towards TEM. However at the lowest collisionality, the changes in turbulence and transport are much more pronounced than expected from direct collisionality effect on the turbulence. In this paper, the collisionality, ν* is varied by a factor 5, while keeping ρ*, q, β, M, fixed. Additionally, a 3 Hz gas puff modulation is applied to modulate the electron density profile and extract the perturbed transport coefficients using two diagnostics. The transport analysis shows that the increase in density peaking at low ν* is linked to an increase in the inward particle pinch and not an increase in core fueling. These observations are not only in agreement with prior modeling scans of how turbulence changes as a function of collisionality and its impact upon the particle fluxes, but also with the multi-machine database (Fable E. et al 2010 PlasmaPhys. Control. Fusion 52 015007)(Angioni C. et al 2003 Phys. Rev. Lett.90 205003). The changes in turbulence across the collisionality scan were captured at large scale by the BES and at smaller scale by the DBS. A comparison with gradient-driven GENE simulations showed similar trends at both scales. Moreover, the changes observed in overall transport are in agreement with gradient-driven TGLF particle flux simulations. This indicates that TGLF/GENE when given the gradients as input, are able to reproduce the experimentally observed turbulence changes.

MHD-blob correlations in NSTX

This paper describes a study of the cross-correlations between edge fluctuations as seen in the gas puff imaging (GPI) diagnostic and low frequency coherent magnetic fluctuations (MHD) in H-mode plasmas in NSTX. The main new result was that large blobs in the scrape-off-layer were significantly correlated with MHD activity in the 3–6 kHz range in 21 of the 223 shots examined. There were also many other shots in which fluctuations in the GPI signal level and its peak radius Rpeak were correlated with MHD activity but without any significant correlation of the MHD with large blobs. The structure and motion of the MHD are compared with those of the correlated blobs, and some possible theoretical mechanisms for the MHD-blob correlation are discussed.

The dependence of exhaust power components on edge gradients in JET-C and JET-ILW H-mode plasmas

Exhaust power components due to ELMs, radiation and heat transport across the edge transport barrier (ETB) between ELMs are quantifed for H-mode plasmas in JET-C and JET-ILW for comparison with simulations of pedestal heat transport. In low-current, JET-ILW pulses with a low rate of gas fuelling, the pedestal heat transport is found not to be stiff, i.e. the effective, mean heat diffusivity does not increase with the electron temperature gradient across the pedestal and the parameter increases with the conducted loss power across the pedestal, with the latter saturating at mean values . This increase in pedestal temperature gradient is partly due to a relative reduction of the ion neo-classical heat transport (which is more significant at low plasma current) with decreasing collisionality at higher power. In JET-ILW pulses, significantly more power is required at a high gas puffing rate to achieve a similar pedestal pressure and normalised confinement to that in otherwise similar JET-C pulses without gas-puffing. The increased heat transport across the JET-ILW pedestals is caused by changes to the pedestal structure induced by the gas puffing, which is required to mitigate contamination by W impurities sputtered from the target plates. In high-power JET-ILW pulses, the radiated power is dominated by that from W, which exhibits a highly asymmetric poloidal distribution due to toroidal rotation. During the ELMy H-mode phase, the W is concentrated in the outer ‘mantle’ region () inside the pedestal top by a favourable alignment of profile gradients, where it can be effectively flushed by ELMs. Transport analysis reveals that the strong mantle radiation cools the outer region of the plasma, causing more of the heat to be lost through the electron channel. However, direct cooling by W radiation from the ETB region is shown to be insignificant compared to the power conducted through the pedestal.

Detection of Gas Drifting Near the Ground by Drone Hovering Over: Using Airflow Generated by Two Connected Quadcopters.

This paper describes the utilization of the downwashes of multicopters for gas-sensing applications. Multirotor drones are an attractive platform for sensing applications. Their high maneuverability enables swift scanning of a target area with onboard sensors. When equipped with a gas sensor and used for gas-sensing applications, however, the strong downwash produced by the rotors poses a problem. When a multicopter is hovering at a low altitude, gas puffs leaked from a gas source on the ground are all blown away. Here, we propose to use two multicopters connected by a rod or a string and place a gas sensor at the midpoint of the rod/string. The downwash generated by each multicopter spreads radially after it impinges on the ground. When two multicopters are connected, the airflows spreading radially along the ground from the two multicopters impinge at the center and are deflected in the upward direction. Gas puffs wafting near the ground surface between the two multicopters are carried by this upward airflow to the gas sensor. Experimental results are presented to show the soundness of the proposed method. The connected quadcopters hovering over an ethanol gas source was able to detect the gas even with a moderate cross-flow.

Effect of the gas puff location on the divertor plasma properties in COMPASS tokamak

Langmuir probes are used to study the plasma parameters in the divertor during deuterium gas puff injection on the high- (HFS) or low-field sides (LFS). The probe data were processed to evaluate the plasma potential and the electron temperatures and densities. A difference was found in the plasma parameters depending on the gas puff location.In the case of a gas puff on the LFS, the plasma parameters changed vastly, mainly in the inner divertor – the plasma potential, the ion saturation-current density and the electron temperature dropped. After the gas puff, the electron temperature changed from 10-15 eV down to within the 5-9 eV range. As a result, the parallel heat-flux density decreased. At the same time, in the outer divertor the plasma parameters remained the same. We thus concluded that using a gas puff on the LFS will facilitate reaching a detachment regime by increasing the density of puffed neutrals.When the deuterium gas puff was on the HFS, the plasma parameters in the divertor region remained almost the same before and during the puff. The electron temperature decreased with just few eV as a result of the increased amount of gas in the vacuum chamber.

Ion acceleration and neutron production in hybrid gas-puff z-pinches on the GIT-12 and HAWK generators

Z-pinch experiments with a hybrid configuration of a deuterium gas puff have been carried out on the HAWK (NRL, Washington, DC) and GIT-12 (IHCE, Tomsk) pulsed power generators at 0.7 MA and 3 MA currents, respectively. On GIT-12, neutron yields reached an average value of 2 × 1012 neutrons, and deuterons were accelerated up to an energy of 30 MeV. This was 50 times the ion energy provided by the generator driving voltage of 0.6 MV and the highest energy observed in z-pinches and dense plasma foci. To confirm these unique results independently on another device, we performed several experimental campaigns on the HAWK generator. Comparison of the experiments on GIT-12 and HAWK helped us to understand which parameters are essential for optimized neutron production. Since the HAWK generator is of a similar pulsed power architecture as GIT-12, the experiments on GIT-12 and HAWK are important for the study of how charged-particle acceleration scales with the current.

Setting the H-mode pedestal structure: variations of particle source location using gas puff and pellet fueling

Experiments in DIII-D show that a particle source location inside the top of the H-mode pedestal (pellets) maintains a higher pedestal pressure than an edge source (gas fueling) through a widening of the electron temperature pedestal with reduction of the temperature gradient. The effect of these two fueling schemes on the H-mode pedestal structure was examined in DIII-D by comparing controlled pellet-fueled and gas-fueled discharges across a fueling scan up to 40 torr l s−1. High resolution electron profiles reveal that gas fueling lowers the pedestal pressure as the density profile shifts radially outwards and the separatrix density increases, while pellet fueling maintains a constant pedestal pressure. The neutral source locations from pellets and gas are determined with the PELLET and UEDGE codes, respectively, and quantify the particle source localization. Pellets provide significant ionization inside the pedestal top while gas puffing localizes ionization in the scrape-off-layer and pedestal foot, broadly consistent with the density profile structure influenced by the source. ELMs are observed to increase in frequency and reduce impurity content as fueling is increased. Stability analysis with ELITE shows that both conditions are near the type-I ELM corner of the peeling–ballooning stability diagram, which is altered significantly by the introduction of pellets. Since transport mechanisms are not observed to change substantially with particle source location, wider pedestals allow the pellet-fueled discharges to retain higher pedestal temperatures at similar pedestal densities. EPED1 is tested to capture the pedestal pressure, under-predicting the height with pellets and over-predicting the height with gas by ∼15%. These results have important implications for future reactors where pellet fueling will be the primary particle source due to an opaque scrape-off-layer by showing that the neutral source location plays a role in setting the structure of the H-mode pedestal.

Effect of periodic gas-puffs on drift-tearing modes in ADITYA/ADITYA-U tokamak discharges

The effect of a periodic train of short gas-puff pulses on the rotation frequency and amplitude of drift-tearing modes has been studied in ADITYA/ADITYA-U tokamak. The short gas puffs, injecting approximately molecules of fuel gas (hydrogen) at one toroidal location, are found to concomitantly decrease the drift-tearing mode rotation frequency and the mode amplitude during the period of injection and then recover back to its initial values when the gas pulse is over. This leads to a periodic modulation of the rotation frequency and amplitude of the drift-tearing modes that is correlated with the periodicity of the gas pulse injection. The underlying mechanism for this change in the mode characteristic appears to be related to gas puff induced change in the radial profile of the plasma pressure in the edge region that brings about a reduction in the diamagnetic drift frequency. Detailed experimental measurements and BOUT++ code simulations support such a reduction in diamagnetic drift frequency. Our results reveal a close interaction between the edge dynamics and core MHD phenomena in a tokamak that could help us better understand the rotation dynamics and amplitude pulsations of magnetic islands.

Soft x-ray photoabsorption spectra of photoionized CH4 and CO2 plasmas

In this work we report soft x-ray (SXR) photoabsorption measurements in neutral methane and carbon dioxide molecules and their corresponding photoionized plasmas. The SXR radiation was generated by a table-top laser produced plasma source based on a double stream gas puff target. At low SXR intensities only features related to neutral molecules are present in the absorption spectrum. On the other hand, as the radiation intensity increases, we observe new absorption features in the low photon energy side of the spectrum. In that case fragments such as neutral and ionized molecules, atoms and atomic ions are found to contribute to the absorption spectrum of the plasmas. To our knowledge these are the first measurements where this laser plasma based SXR source is used to both create and probe a molecular plasma. Emphasis is placed on identifying the fragment species and the corresponding transitions.

Impact of divertor configuration on recycling neutral fluxes for ITER-like wall in JET H-mode plasmas

In recent years it has been well known that in JET, with the ITER-like wall, the performance of high-power H-mode plasmas depends strongly on the magnetic topology of the divertor. This is generally attributed to the effect of the magnetic field shaping on the neutral flux transport and pumping, which—in high density H-mode plasmas—determine the pedestal properties and the global confinement. In this work we have analysed the spatial distribution and the dynamic behaviour of the Dα-emission for different magnetic configurations. Experimental observations indicate that for certain configurations, the surface temperature and the Dα—emission anomalously increase on top of the inner divertor, which points to thermal outgassing there. This is also the region where most beryllium co-deposits accumulate and most deuterium becomes trapped. The overheating at this region far from the strike point (SP) is observed to happen in magnetic configurations with reduced distance between the divertor material surface and the separatrix (clearance). The neutral flux that appears at the upper inner divertor during a few milliseconds after the ELM-crash, is more than an order of magnitude larger than the gas puffing rate and dominates over all other regions. Finally, a preliminary study describes how this thermal fuel outgassing from the co-deposited layers could be used intentionally as a wall-conditioning in JET technique with plasmas that focus their particle and heat flux there. This could be used as a complementary wall isotope control technique and more specifically for tritium recovery from the upper inner divertor where most fuel-trapping beryllium co-deposits accumulate in JET ITER-like wall.

Study of stability in a liner-on-target gas puff Z-pinch as a function of pre-embedded axial magnetic field

Gas puff Z-pinches are intense sources of X-rays and neutrons but are highly susceptible to the magneto-Rayleigh-Taylor instability (MRTI). MRTI mitigation is critical for optimal and reproducible yields, motivating significant attention toward various potential mitigation mechanisms. One such approach is the external application of an axial magnetic field, which will be discussed here in the context of recent experiments on the Zebra generator (1 MA, 100 ns) at the University of Nevada, Reno. In these experiments, an annular Kr gas liner is imploded onto an on-axis deuterium target with a pre-embedded axial magnetic field Bz0 ranging from 0 to 0.3 T. The effect of Bz0 on the stability of the Kr liner is evaluated with measurements of plasma radius, overall instability amplitude, and dominant instability wavelength at different times obtained from time-gated extreme ultraviolet pinhole images. It was observed that the external axial magnetic field does not affect the implosion velocity significantly and that it reduces the overall instability amplitude and the presence of short-wavelength modes, indicating improved pinch stability and reproducibility. For the highest applied Bz0=0.3 T, the stagnation radius measured via visible streak images was found to increase. These findings are consistent with experiments reported in the literature, but here, the Bz0 required for stability, Bz0=0.13 Ipk/R0 (where Ipk is the driver peak current and R0 is the initial radius), is lower. This could be attributed to the smaller load geometry, both radially and axially. Consistent with other experiments, the cause of decreased convergence cannot be explained by the additional axial magnetic pressure and remains an open question.

Polarization Stark spectroscopy for spatially resolved measurements of electric fields in the sheaths of ICRF antenna.

A multichannel spectroscopic diagnostic based on the Stark effect on helium lines was developed and implemented in IShTAR (Ion Cyclotron Sheath Test ARrangement) to measure the spatial distribution of electric fields across the radio frequency sheaths of the ion cyclotron antenna. Direct measurements of the DC electric fields in the antenna sheaths are an important missing component in understanding the antenna-plasma edge interactions in magnetically confined fusion plasmas since they will be used to benchmark theoretical models against real antenna operation. Along with the high-resolution Czerny-Turner monochromator and a detector with an intensifier, the hardware relies on the 2 chained set of linear-to-linear fiber bundles that provide seven optical channels capable of resolving an 8.4 mm region in the vicinity of the antenna's box. The diagnostic is supported with local helium gas puff, enabling it to operate in nonhelium plasmas. Spatially resolved electric field was measured for two discharge configurations, one with and one without the ICRF antenna. The results show a clear difference in the shape of the DC electric field's spatial profile for the two cases studied, with the elevated values when the ICRF antenna was operating. This demonstrates the ability of the diagnostic to measure even small relative changes in the intensity of the electric field.

Observation of deuterium molecule emission spectra under an active feedback control of H-mod plasma divertor detachment experiment on the EAST tokamak**Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11805234).

Based on neon gas puffing, an active feedback control of H-mod plasma divertor detachment experiment was successfully operated on the EAST tokamak. During the feedback control discharge, the plasma was detached by puffing neon gas and the strike point splitting phenomenon on divertor target was also clearly observed by divertor probes diagnostic. In boundary region, many neutral particle processes (atom and molecule) were happened and accompanied by their emission spectra under the detachment discharge. By studying these emission spectra, it is helpful for us to understand the role of atoms and molecules in boundary recycling, which is important for studying the physical mechanism of divertor detachment. For the Fulcher-α system (, D2 emission spectra in the range from 601 nm to 606 nm were observed, identified and fitted in the detachment experiment for the first time on the EAST, and the spectra in the Q(0–0) band ( in the Q branch of the Fulcher-α system were used for detailed analysis to acquire the boundary region temperature Te (below 5 eV), which could not be provided very well by other diagnostics on the EAST. An electronic version deuterium molecular spectral line database was established to identify the spectral lines and a multi-peak fitting program was developed to fit and analyze the observed spectra.

Edge turbulence approaching the density limit in RFX-mod experiment

The boundary region of the RFX-mod reversed field pinch experiment is strongly influenced by the value of the electron density. With increasing density the magnetic topology in the plasma core and in the plasma edge changes, together with the statistical properties of the edge turbulent fluctuations. Using the density normalized to the Greenwald density (n/nG), two density regimes are identified: the low density regime at n/nG < 0.3–0.4, and the high density regime for n/nG > 0.4–0.5, without a clear threshold between them. At low density the plasma is dominated by the (m, n) = (1, −7) magnetic mode, which gives the same shape to the magnetic boundary; at higher density a strong (0, 1) mode rises. When increasing n/nG, edge fluctuations develop strong non-Gaussian tails, turbulent structures become larger and their radial velocity become measurable with the gas puff imaging diagnostic when n/nG > 0.3–0.4. This phenomenology is described in detail for the two density regimes of RFX-mod.

Generation of K-Shell Radiation of Noble Gases in the Microsecond Implosion Regime

Studies of K-shell plasma radiation sources were performed on the GIT-12 generator (4.7 MA, 1.7 μs). In the experiments, a new type of load configuration was used to form the Z-pinch plasma – a gas puff with an outer plasma shell. Noble gases neon and argon were used as working gases. The gas puff consisted of two cascades: a hollow cylindrical shell outside and a solid jet inside. The outer plasma shell was created with the help of plasma guns located on a diameter of 350 mm. A distinctive feature of these studies is that the experiments with the plasma radiation source were carried out in the microsecond implosion regime usually leading to a significant decrease in the efficiency of generation of K-shell x-rays. The use of the Z-pinch load of a new type significantly improved the efficiency of the microsecond plasma radiation source. As a result of optimization of the initial gas-puff parameters, a neon K-shell radiation yield of 14.7 kJ/cm at a peak implosion current of 3.5 MA was achieved. In experiments with argon gas puffs, the radiation yield reached 1.9 kJ/cm at a peak implosion current of 3.1 MA.