Impurity Density Asymmetry Research Articles

In-out charge exchange measurements and 3D modelling of diagnostic thermal neutrals to study edge poloidal impurity asymmetries

A new method was developed to model the neutral population produced by the gas puff based charge exchange recombination spectroscopy systems at ASDEX Upgrade (AUG). With this method, the edge impurity density on the high field side (HFS) and low field side (LFS) can be obtained without the need to apply a neutral beam injection system. The neutral penetration needed for the calculation of the impurity density is obtained with a new gas puff module implemented in the FIDASIM code. The LFS impurity density profile evaluated with the new gas puff module matches the impurity density calculated with standard beam-based charge exchange diagnostics. Impurity temperature, rotation and density profiles at the HFS and LFS of an AUG H-mode discharge are presented. Edge impurity toroidal and poloidal flows show asymmetric structures. The impurity density asymmetries obtained with the new gas puff module are consistent with the observed flow structure.

In–out impurity density asymmetry due to the Coriolis force in a rotating tokamak plasma

The effect of the Coriolis force due to the impurity toroidal and poloidal rotation on the in–out impurity density asymmetry in a rotating tokamak plasma is investigated. The role of the Coriolis force is figured out explicitly in the toroidally rotating plasma frame. The in–out impurity density asymmetry can be induced by the Coriolis force with , in this case, when moving along the magnetic field line from the outboard side to the inboard side in a magnetic flux surface, one sees a positive Coriolis force. The combined effects of the centrifugal force, the Coriolis force, the poloidal electric field and the ion-impurity friction force on the in–out impurity density asymmetry are discussed. The proposed theoretical model can be applied to improve the understanding of the in–out impurity density asymmetry observed in the tokamak experiments.

Collisionality dependence of edge rotation and in–out impurity asymmetries in ASDEX Upgrade H-mode plasmas

The poloidal and toroidal impurity flows in the edge transport barrier of H-mode plasmas have been studied over a wide range of pedestal top ion collisionalities. A comparison of the edge poloidal rotation measurements to neoclassical predictions shows good agreement in all cases. The measured edge impurity toroidal rotation is observed to change sign from co-current to counter-current with decreasing collisionality. The switch occurs at the same collisionality at which neoclassical theory predicts the main ion poloidal rotation to change from the electron to the ion diamagnetic direction. The behaviour of these two species, when used to calculate the main ion toroidal rotation via the radial force balance equation, leads to fairly constant co-current main ion toroidal rotation. Hence, at low collisionality, due to a reduced frictional coupling, the main ion-impurity differential rotation can be quite large. The behaviour of impurity ion flows on a flux surface has also been investigated in detail and it was found that the measurements are consistent with the continuity equation only if the poloidally asymmetric impurity density distribution is taken into account. The asymmetry is found to be the result of the interplay of all forces in the parallel momentum balance, with the friction force providing the dominant drive. Close to the separatrix the poloidal centrifugal force, which is usually neglected, also gives an additional contribution to the impurity density asymmetry. Within the experimental uncertainties the ion temperature and the electrostatic potential are simultaneous flux functions, despite the presence of a poloidally asymmetric impurity density profile.

Transport, stability and plasma control studies in the TJ-II stellarator

The main TJ-II results since 2012 are presented in this overview. Impurity confinement is studied showing an isotopic dependence of impurity confinement time, asymmetries in parallel impurity flows in TJ-II ion-root plasmas and impurity density asymmetries within a flux surface. In addition, first observations of electrostatic potential variations within the same magnetic flux surface are presented. Evidence of the impact of three-dimensional magnetic structures on plasma confinement and L–H transitions is also presented. The leading role of the plasma turbulence is emphasized by the observed temporal ordering of the limit cycle oscillations at the L–I–H transition. Comparative studies between tokamaks and stellarators have provided direct experimental evidence for the importance of multi-scale physics to unravel the impact of the isotope effect on transport. Novel solutions for plasma facing components based on the recently installed Li-liquid limiters (LLLs) have been developed on TJ-II, showing the self-screening effect of evaporating liquid lithium, protecting plasma-facing components against heat loads, and tritium inventory control. Regarding plasma stability, magnetic well scan experiments show that traditional stability criteria, on which the optimization of stellarator configurations is based, may miss some stabilization mechanisms. Further effects of ECRH on Alfvénic instabilities are investigated, showing that moderate off-axis ECH power deposition modifies the continuous nature of the Alfvén eigenmodes, and frequency chirping sets in. This result shows that ECH can be a tool for AE control that might be ITER and reactor-relevant.

Understanding of impurity poloidal distribution in the edge pedestal by modelling

Simulation of an H-mode ASDEX Upgrade shot with boron impurity was done with the B2SOLPS5.2 transport code. Simulation results were compared with the unique experimental data available for the chosen shot: radial density, electron and ion temperature profiles in the equatorial midplanes, radial electric field profile, radial profiles of the parallel velocity of impurities at the low-field side (LFS) and high-field side (HFS), radial density profiles of impurity ions at LHS and HFS. Simulation results reproduce all available experimental data simultaneously. In particular strong poloidal HFS–LFS asymmetry of B5+ ions was predicted in accordance with the experiment. The simulated HFS B5+ density inside the edge transport barrier is twice larger than that at LFS. This is consistent with the experimental observations where even larger impurity density asymmetry was observed. A similar effect was predicted in the simulation done for the MAST H-mode. Here the HFS density of He2+ is predicted to be 4 times larger than that at LHS. Such a large predicted asymmetry is connected with a larger ratio of HFS and LFS magnetic fields which is typical for spherical tokamaks. The HFS/LFS asymmetry was not measured in the experiment, however modelling qualitatively reproduces the observed change of sign of He+parallel velocity to the counter-current direction at LFS. The understanding of the asymmetry is based on neoclassical effects in plasma with strong gradients. It is demonstrated that simulation results obtained with account of sources of ionization, realistic geometry and turbulent transport are consistent with the simplified analytical approach. Difference from the standard neoclassical theory is emphasized.

Poloidal asymmetries in edge transport barriers

Measurements of impurities in Alcator C-Mod indicate that in the pedestal region, significant poloidal asymmetries can exist in the impurity density, ion temperature, and main ion density. In light of the observation that ion temperature and electrostatic potential are not constant on a flux surface [Theiler et al., Nucl. Fusion 54, 083017 (2014)], a technique based on total pressure conservation to align profiles measured at separate poloidal locations is presented and applied. Gyrokinetic neoclassical simulations with XGCa support the observed large poloidal variations in ion temperature and density, and that the total pressure is approximately constant on a flux surface. With the updated alignment technique, the observed in-out asymmetry in impurity density is reduced from previous publishing [Churchill et al., Nucl. Fusion 53, 122002 (2013)], but remains substantial (nz,H/nz,L∼6). Candidate asymmetry drivers are explored, showing that neither non-uniform impurity sources nor localized fluctuation-driven transport are able to explain satisfactorily the impurity density asymmetry. Since impurity density asymmetries are only present in plasmas with strong electron density gradients, and radial transport timescales become comparable to parallel transport timescales in the pedestal region, it is suggested that global transport effects relating to the strong electron density gradients in the pedestal are the main driver for the pedestal in-out impurity density asymmetry.

Rotation and density asymmetries in the presence of large poloidal impurity flows in the edge pedestal

Novel flow rotation measurements based on charge exchange recombination spectroscopy at the inboard midplane of the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak reveal the existence of an asymmetric flow structure at the H-mode edge, which is shown to arise due to a poloidal impurity density asymmetry. A quantitative evaluation of the impurity density at the inboard side demonstrates that the impurities redistribute along the flux surface, resulting in a poloidal dependency of the impurity density. The poloidal and toroidal impurity flows measured at the high-field side (HFS) and low-field side (LFS) are compared to theoretical predictions based on the parallel momentum balance, which includes friction, inertia, pressure and electric force. Both a fluid and a kinetic approach are used, showing good agreement with each other. The measured impurity flow structure is described by the model quantitatively when a finite poloidal main ion flow of ∼2 km s−1 arises, which is in keeping with the standard neoclassical prediction. The interplay of all terms, in particular the inclusion of the impurity inertia term, is important in reproducing the observed flow structure and results in an impurity accumulation at the HFS. The existence of a poloidal impurity density asymmetry in the edge transport barrier slightly reduces the drift parameter v/D, however, the experimental value is consistent with standard neoclassical theory. This demonstrates that despite the asymmetry in the impurity density, the impurity particle transport is at the neoclassical level.

In–out impurity density asymmetry in the pedestal region of Alcator C-Mod

Measurements are presented of the boron (B5+) density in the pedestal region at the low-field side (LFS) midplane and the high-field side (HFS) midplane of Alcator C-Mod. In H-mode plasmas, a large (≳10x) in–out asymmetry in impurity density forms, with larger densities at the HFS. In contrast, there is no impurity density asymmetry in L-mode or I-mode plasmas. A comparison of pedestal parameters in H-mode plasmas shows that the HFS impurity density pedestal width and position remain fairly fixed over a range of plasma conditions, while the LFS pedestal width widens, and the pedestal position shifts in towards the core as the plasma current is lowered, indicating a change in the underlying transport.

Turbulent transport of impurities and their effect on energy confinement

By presenting linear and nonlinear gyrokinetic studies, based on a balanced neutral beam injection deuterium discharge from the DIII-D tokamak, we demonstrate that impurities alter the scaling of the transport on the charge and mass of the main species, and even more importantly, they can dramatically change the energy transport even in relatively small quantities. A poloidally varying equilibrium electrostatic potential can lead to a strong reduction or sign change of the impurity peaking factor due to the combined effect of the in–out impurity density asymmetry and the E × B drift of impurities. We present an approximate expression for the impurity peaking factor and demonstrate that impurity peaking is not significantly affected by impurity self-collisions.

Parallel transport studies of high-Z impurities in the core of Alcator C-Mod plasmas

Measurements of poloidal variation, ñz/⟨nz⟩, in high-Z impurity density have been made using photodiode arrays sensitive to vacuum ultraviolet and soft x-ray emission in Alcator C-Mod plasmas. In/out asymmetries in the range of −0.2<nz,cos/⟨nz⟩<0.3 are observed for r/a<0.8, and accumulation on both the high-field side, nz,cos<0, and low-field side, nz,cos>0, of a flux surface is found to be well described by a combination of centrifugal, poloidal electric field, and ion-impurity friction effects. Up/down asymmetries, −0.05<nz,sin/⟨nz⟩<0.10, are observed over 0.5<r/a<0.9 with nz,sin>0 corresponding to accumulation opposite the ion ∇B drift direction. Measurements of the up/down asymmetry of molybdenum are found to disagree with predictions from recent neoclassical theory in the trace limit, nzZ2/ni≪1. Non-trace levels of impurities are expected to modify the main-ion poloidal flow and thus change friction-driven impurity density asymmetries and impurity poloidal rotation, vθ,z. Artificially modifying main-ion flow in parallel transport simulations is shown to impact both ñz/⟨nz⟩ and vθ,z, but simultaneous agreement between measured and predicted up/down and in/out asymmetry as well as impurity poloidal rotation is not possible for these C-Mod data. This link between poloidal flow and poloidal impurity density variation outlines a more stringent test for parallel neoclassical transport theory than has previously been performed. Measurement and computational techniques specific to the study of poloidal impurity asymmetry physics are discussed as well.

Non-neoclassical up/down asymmetry of impurity emission on Alcator C-Mod

We demonstrate that existing theories are insufficient to explain up/down asymmetries of argon x-ray emission in Alcator C-Mod ohmic plasmas. Instead of the poloidal variation, ñz/〈nz〉, being of order the inverse aspect ratio, ϵ, and scaling linearly with , it is observed over 0.8 < r/a < 1.0 to be of order unity and exhibits a threshold behaviour between (T1020 m−3 MA−1). The transition from a poloidally symmetric to asymmetric impurity distribution is shown to occur at densities just below those that trigger a reversal of the core toroidal rotation direction, thought to be linked to the transition between the linear and saturated ohmic confinement regimes. A possible drive is discussed by which anomalous radial transport might sustain the impurity density asymmetry as the ratio of the perpendicular to parallel equilibration times, τ⊥,z/τ∥,z, approaches unity. This explanation requires a strong up/down asymmetry in radial flux which, while not observable on C-Mod, has been measured in TEXT and Tore Supra ohmic plasmas.

Non-local heat transport, rotation reversals and up/down impurity density asymmetries in Alcator C-Mod ohmic L-mode plasmas

Several seemingly unrelated effects in Alcator C-Mod ohmic L-mode plasmas are shown to be closely connected: non-local heat transport, core toroidal rotation reversals, energy confinement saturation and up/down impurity density asymmetries. These phenomena all abruptly transform at a critical value of the collisionality. At low densities in the linear ohmic confinement regime, with collisionality ν* ⩽ 0.35 (evaluated inside of the q = 3/2 surface), heat transport exhibits non-local behaviour, core toroidal rotation is directed co-current, edge impurity density profiles are up/down symmetric and a turbulent feature in core density fluctuations with kθ up to 15 cm−1 (kθρs ∼ 1) is present. At high density/collisionality with saturated ohmic confinement, electron thermal transport is diffusive, core rotation is in the counter-current direction, edge impurity density profiles are up/down asymmetric and the high kθ turbulent feature is absent. The rotation reversal stagnation point (just inside of the q = 3/2 surface) coincides with the non-local electron temperature profile inversion radius. All of these observations suggest a possible unification in a model with trapped electron mode prevalence at low collisionality and ion temperature gradient mode domination at high collisionality.

Poloidal asymmetry of parallel rotation measured in ASDEX Upgrade

The parallel flows in the H-mode edge of ASDEX Upgrade are investigated. Beam-based charge-exchange recombination spectroscopy (CXRS) provides the toroidal and poloidal impurity flow velocities at the outboard midplane, while a deuterium-puff based CXRS measurement provides the toroidal impurity flow velocities at the inboard midplane. In order to more easily compare these measurements to fundamental boundary conditions, a basic overview of flows on a flux surface is presented. The boundary conditions are given by the continuity equation and mean that the flow velocities on a flux surface must have a specific structure in order to provide zero divergence. At first, poloidal impurity density asymmetries and radial transport are neglected. Inside of the pedestal-top of the electron density profile the measurements agree with the postulated flow structure, while they do not agree at the pedestal itself. Here, an extension of the theoretical scheme, which allows for a poloidal impurity density asymmetry, suggests that the measured flow velocities could be explained by an excess impurity density at the inboard midplane. In detail, the inboard impurity density is postulated to be at the separatrix up to a factor of 6.5 higher than impurity density at the outboard midplane. Near the pedestal-top of the electron density, this asymmetry disappears. Radial transport is considered as an explanation for that asymmetry. A conclusive disentanglement of the driving mechanisms requires further investigation.

Poloidal variation of high-Z impurity density due to hydrogen minority ion cyclotron resonance heating on Alcator C-Mod

In the Alcator C-Mod tokamak, strong, steady-state variations of molybdenum density within a flux surface are routinely observed in plasmas using hydrogen minority ion cyclotron resonant heating. In/out asymmetries, up to a factor of 2, occur with either inboard or outboard accumulation depending on the major radius of the minority resonance layer. These poloidal variations can be attributed to the impurity's high charge and large mass in the neoclassical parallel force balance. The large mass enhances the centrifugal force, causing outboard accumulation while the high charge enhances ion-impurity friction and makes impurities sensitive to small poloidal variations in the plasma potential. Quantitative comparisons between existing parallel high-Z impurity transport theories and experimental results for r/a < 0.7 show good agreement when the resonance layer is on the high-field side of the tokamak but disagree substantially for low-field side heating. Ion-impurity friction is insufficient to explain the experimental results, and the accumulation of impurity density on the inboard side of flux surface is shown to be driven by a poloidal potential variation due to magnetic trapping of non-thermal, cyclotron heated minority ions. Parallel impurity transport theory is extended to account for cyclotron effects and shown to agree with experimentally measured impurity density asymmetries.

Comparison of neoclassical predictions with measured flows and evaluation of a poloidal impurity density asymmetry

The study and prediction of velocities in the pedestal region of Alcator C-Mod are important for understanding plasma confinement and transport. In this study we examine the simplified neoclassical predictions for impurity flows using equations developed for plasmas with background ions in the Pfirsch–Schlüter (PS) (high collisionality) and banana (low collisionality) regimes. B5+ flow profiles for H-mode plasmas are acquired using the charge-exchange recombination spectroscopy diagnostic on Alcator C-Mod and are compared with calculated profiles for the region just inside the last closed flux surface. Reasonable agreement is found between the predictions from the PS regime formalism and the measured poloidal velocities for the steep gradient region of the H-mode pedestals, regardless of the collisionality of the plasma. The agreement is poorer between the neoclassical predictions and measured velocity profiles using the banana regime formalism. Additionally, comparisons of measured velocities from the low- and high-field sides (LFS and HFS) of the plasma lead us to infer the strong possibility of a poloidal asymmetry in the B5+ density. This asymmetry can be a factor of 2–3 for the region of the steepest gradients, with the density at the HFS being larger. The magnitude of the density asymmetry is found to be correlated with the magnitude of the poloidal velocity at the LFS of the plasma.

Observation of up-down asymmetric impurity densities in TEXT from a horizontal x-ray imaging array (abstract)

Up-down asymmetries were observed in the x-ray emission from aluminum injected into TEXT [K. W. Wenzel et al., Bull. Am. Phys. Soc. 34, 2153 (1989)]. The Z dependence of these asymmetries will be explored by injecting carbon, aluminum, titanium, chromium, and iron into similar TEXT discharges. Furthermore, the current-direction dependence will be tested. The latter experiment may clarify coupling between impurity density asymmetries and electron density fluctuation asymmetries, because the fluctuation asymmetries were found to reverse with changed current direction [D. L. Brower et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 54, 689 (1985)]. A possible theoretical coupling between impurity density and fluctuation asymmetries comes from the effect of radiative cooling on thermally driven convection cells [D. R. Thayer and P. H. Diamond, Phys. Fluids 30, 3724 (1987)].