Lower Hybrid Heating Research Articles

Reinterpreting radio frequency heating and current drive theory in a tokamak

Quasilinear treatments are widely used for tokamaks to evaluate radio frequency (rf) heating and current drive. Even though the core of a tokamak plasma is weakly collisional, the solution of the linearized kinetic equation is evaluated using unperturbed collisionless trajectories while often treating successive poloidal circuits of the passing (and trapped) particles as uncorrelated or nearly so. In addition, the most important effect of tokamak geometry, the mirror force, is usually mistreated or ignored when obtaining the solution. These concerning aspects of rf treatments are clarified by considering lower hybrid heating and current drive to illustrate that the electrons in resonance with the applied rf are enclosed by narrow collisional boundary layers, and that tokamak geometry makes it necessary to retain poloidal variation when solving a weakly collisional linearized kinetic equation. Other aspects such as collisional boundary layers at the trapped–passing boundary, cyclotron resonances, and the limitations of quasilinear theory are also considered. The new insights lead to a fundamentally different formulation and interpretation of the solution of the linearized Fokker–Planck equation used for rf quasilinear theory in a tokamak, while retaining many of the features that have contributed to its successful application to rf heating and current drive.

Maximizing the ion temperature in an electron heated plasma: from WEST towards larger devices

In electron heated plasmas, as the power increases, it is experimentally reported that the ion temperature (Ti ) saturates while the electron temperature (Te ) increases [Beurskens NF 2022]. As on AUG, W7X and elsewhere, Ti saturates around 1.5 keV in WEST L-mode electron heated plasmas while Te reaches 4 keV. Simulations within the integrated model METIS have been compared against a whole WEST campaign consisting mostly of L-mode plasmas with Lower Hybrid heating ranging from 1 to 5.5 MW. In METIS, the collisional equipartition is modeled as well as the turbulent heat transport using the neural network regression of the quasilinear gyrokinetic code QuaLiKiz. The observed Ti saturation is well captured by the modeling framework. The saturation correlates with a low ratio of the energy confinement time to the volume averaged electron-ion collisional heat exchange time. It is then shown that Ti saturation in electron heated plasma is due to an equipartition time higher than the energy confinement time. In larger devices, no Ti saturation is expected nor predicted by physics based integrated modeling used in this work, thanks to equipartition times sufficiently shorter than the energy confinement time.

Revisiting the improved core confinement simulations for FT‐2 tokamak

AbstractIn the present paper, we revisit observations performed in FT‐2 tokamak from previous works. Improvements of core confinement are observed and believed to be caused by wide orbits going from collisionless to collisional regimes. Similar phenomena can occur whenever gradient lengths are comparable to the orbit widths at the top of the pedestal and the loss cone is continuously and increasingly filled by heated particles, collisions and turbulent effects. The lower hybrid heating operator is introduced into the ELMFIRE code to increase the ion temperature during the simulations while keeping the edge temperature low with logical boundary condition at the limiter. Particular focus is given on how the radial electric field deviates from the neoclassical value while introducing turbulent effects.

Structure-preserving particle-in-cell simulation of lower hybrid wave propagation and heating in the magnetic mirror

This study presents the first-principle, structure-preserving electromagnetic particle-in-cell simulation of the lower hybrid wave (LHW) in magnetic mirror-confined plasmas. The behavior of LHW propagation and ion heating is studied and compared with the ray-tracing results. Two full-wave effects of LHW propagation in the mirror devices, the rotation of LHW and tunnel effects near the resonance, are revealed and discussed. Meanwhile, the ion heating near the resonance layer is presented. We first provide the spatial profile of energy deposition in 3D space and conduct a long-term simulation that shows an up to 150% ion temperature increment and a maximal ion temperature of over 1.5 keV in the hot spot at the end. In addition, we further discuss the heating mechanism and elucidate the stochastic ion heating behavior in such a regime. The onset and advantages of such a heating mechanism in terms of the magnetic mirror are also discussed. The results proved the reliability and effectiveness of lower hybrid stochastic heating in mirror devices.

Simulation as a tool to improve wave heating in fusion plasmas

Firstly, a brief overview will be given on different models that are able to describe the behaviour of wave propagation as a function of specific frequency ranges. Each range corresponds to different heating systems, namely, 20–100 MHz for the ion cyclotron resonant heating, 2–20 GHz for lower-hybrid heating or current drive, and 100–250 GHz for electron cyclotron resonant heating or current drive systems. The specification of every system will be explained in detail, including the typical set of equations and the assumptions needed to describe the properties of these heating or current drive systems, as well as their specific domains of validity. In these descriptions, special attention will be paid to the boundary conditions. A review of specific physical problems associated with the wave heating systems will also be provided. The review will detail the role of simulation in answering questions that arise from experiments on magnetized plasma devices devoted to fusion. A few examples that will be covered are the impact of edge turbulence on wave propagation and its consequences on heating system performance, the effects of fast particles and ponderomotive effects, among others. A study that is more focused on radio-frequency sheath effects will also be discussed. It shows that such simulations require very sophisticated tools to gain a partial understanding of the observations undertaken in dedicated experiments. To conclude this review, an overview will be given about the requirements and progress necessary to obtain relevant predictive simulation tools able to describe the wave heating systems used in fusion devices.

Low power density ion cyclotron arrays for fusion reactors

Ion Cyclotron Radio Frequency (ICRF) Heating and Current Drive (H&CD) is a well established technique of auxiliary heating in present tokamaks, as it features high on-axis heating and current drive efficiencies associated with proven and low cost technology. An important limiting factor to the use of ICRF as candidate heating method in a commercial reactor is linked to the evanescence of the fast wave in vacuum and in most of the SOL layer, imposing proximity of the launching structure to the plasma boundary and causing high RF standing and DC rectified voltages at the plasma periphery, possible voltage breakdowns and enhanced local wall loading. Further to previous work (Bosia et al., Ion Cyclotron and Lower Hybrid Arrays applicable to Current Drive in Fusion Reactors, in: AIP Proc. of 20th Topical Conf on RF Power in plasmas No. 1580, 2013, 215) developing new concepts for Ion Cyclotron and Lower Hybrid Heating & Current Drive arrays, based on the use of periodic structures, a practical example for an in-blanket IC array for DEMO1 is presented in this study.

Enhanced confinement scenarios without large edge localized modes in tokamaks: control, performance, and extrapolability issues for ITER

Large edge localized modes (ELMs) typically accompany good H-mode confinement in fusion devices, but can present problems for plasma facing components because of high transient heat loads. Here the range of techniques for ELM control deployed in fusion devices is reviewed. Two strategies in the ITER baseline design are emphasized: rapid ELM triggering and peak heat flux control via pellet injection, and the use of magnetic perturbations to suppress or mitigate ELMs. While both of these techniques are moderately well developed, with reasonable physical bases for projecting to ITER, differing observations between multiple devices are also discussed to highlight the needed community R&D. In addition, recent progress in ELM-free regimes, namely quiescent H-mode, I-mode, and enhanced pedestal H-mode is reviewed, and open questions for extrapolability are discussed. Finally progress and outstanding issues in alternate ELM control techniques are reviewed: supersonic molecular beam injection, edge electron cyclotron heating, lower hybrid heating and/or current drive, controlled periodic jogs of the vertical centroid position, ELM pace-making via periodic magnetic perturbations, ELM elimination with lithium wall conditioning, and naturally occurring small ELM regimes.

Probing the plasma near high power wave launchers in fusion devices for static and dynamic electric fields (invited).

An exploratory study was carried out in the long-pulse tokamak Tore Supra, to determine if electric fields in the plasma around high-power, RF wave launchers could be measured with non-intrusive, passive, optical emission spectroscopy. The focus was in particular on the use of the external electric field Stark effect. The feasibility was found to be strongly dependent on the spatial extent of the electric fields and overlap between regions of strong (>∼1 kV/cm) electric fields and regions of plasma particle recycling and plasma-induced, spectral line emission. Most amenable to the measurement was the RF electric field in edge plasma, in front of a lower hybrid heating and current drive launcher. Electric field strengths and direction, derived from fitting the acquired spectra to a model including time-dependent Stark effect and the tokamak-range magnetic field Zeeman-effect, were found to be in good agreement with full-wave modeling of the observed launcher.

Unconditionally stable numerical simulations of a new generalized reduced resistive magnetohydrodynamics model

SUMMARYReduced‐resistive magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) models are used in understanding different phenomenon in various domains, for example, astrophysics to model magnetotail or for solar arcades [Finn Bozkaya JM, Guzdar PN. Loss of equilibrium and reconnection in tearing of two dimensional equilibrias. Physics of Fluids B 1993; 5:2870–2876], modeling plasma confinements in reverse field pinch [Strauss HR. The dynamo effect in fusion plasmas. Physics of Fluids 1985; 28:2786–2792] and tokamaks [Strauss HR. Reduced MHD in nearly potential magnetic fields. Journal of Plasma Physics 1997; 57(1):83–87; Freidberg J. Plasma Physics and Fusion Energy. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 2008]. In this context, recently, a new generalized reduced‐resistive MHD model, which can make use of an arbitrary density profile was proposed [Després B, Sart R. Reduced resistive MHD in Tokamaks with general density. ESAIM: Mathematical Modelling and Numerical Analysis 2012; 46(5):1081–1106. EDP Sciences, SMAI, 2012 online 2011]. We in this work show that this proposed theoretical model can be realized numerically as well, and that it is very robust if the equation set is written in a very particular form using the properties of FEM. To illustrate these points, we pick the current hole configuration [Fujita T, Oikawa T, Suzuki T, Ide S, Sakamoto Y, Koide Y, Hatae T, Naito O, Isayama A, Hayashi N, Shirai H. Plasma equilibrium and confinement in a tokamak with nearly zero central current density in JT‐60U. Physical Review Letters 2001; 87(11):245001; Hawkes NC, Stratton BC, Tala T, Challis CD, Conway G, DeAngelis R, Giroud C, Hobirk J, Joffrin E, Lomas P, Lotte P, Mailloux J, Mazon D, Rachlew E, Reyes‐Cortes S, Solano E, Zastrow K‐D. Observation of zero current density in the core of JET discharges with lower hybrid heating and current drive. Physical Review Letters 2001; 87(11):115001], which was modeled using reduced‐resistive MHD and remodel it using different combinations of current sources and density profiles. Our model can be implemented with reasonable computational resources at the price of solving a well‐posed global linear system and it is unconditionally stable. These features are also demonstrated as a part of our numerical experiments. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Scanning retarding field analyzer for plasma profile measurements in the boundary of the Alcator C-Mod tokamak

A new Retarding Field Analyzer (RFA) head has been created for the outer-midplane scanning probe system on the Alcator C-Mod tokamak. The new probe head contains back-to-back retarding field analyzers aligned with the local magnetic field. One faces "upstream" into the field-aligned plasma flow and the other faces "downstream" away from the flow. The RFA was created primarily to benchmark ion temperature measurements of an ion sensitive probe; it may also be used to interrogate electrons. However, its construction is robust enough to be used to measure ion and electron temperatures up to the last-closed flux surface in C-Mod. A RFA probe of identical design has been attached to the side of a limiter to explore direct changes to the boundary plasma due to lower hybrid heating and current drive. Design of the high heat flux (>100 MW∕m(2)) handling probe and initial results are presented.

Ideal MHD stability and performance of ITER steady-state scenarios with ITBs

Non-inductive steady-state scenarios on ITER will need to operate with internal transport barriers (ITBs) in order to reach adequate fusion gain at typical currents of 9 MA. The large pressure gradients at the location of the internal barrier are conducive to the development of ideal MHD instabilities that may limit the plasma performance and may lead to plasma disruptions. Fully non-inductive scenario simulations with five combinations of heating and current drive sources are presented in this work, with plasma currents in the range 7–10 MA. For each configuration the linear, ideal MHD stability is analysed for variations of the Greenwald fraction and of the pressure peaking factor around the operating point, aiming at defining an operational space for stable, steady-state operations at optimized performance. It is shown that plasmas with lower hybrid heating and current drive maintain the minimum safety factor above 1.5, which is desirable in steady-state operations to avoid neoclassical tearing modes. Operating with moderate ITBs at 2/3 of the minor radius, these plasmas have a minimum safety factor above 2, are ideal MHD stable and reach Q ≳ 5 operating above the ideal no-wall limit.

The Ion Cyclotron, Lower Hybrid and Alfven Wave Heating Methods

This lecture covers the practical features and experimental results of the three heating methods. The emphasis is on ion cyclotron heating. First, we briefly come back to the main non-collisional heating mechanisms and to the particular features of the quasilinear coefficient in the ion cyclotron range of frequencies (ICRF). The specific case of the ion-ion hybrid resonance is treated, as well as the polarisation issue and minority heating scheme. The various ICRF scenarios are reviewed. The experimental applications of ion cyclotron resonance heating (ICRH) systems are outlined. Then, the lower hybrid and Alfvén wave heating and current drive experimental results are covered more briefly. Where applicable, the prospects for ITER are commented.

Large ELM-like events triggered by core MHD in JET advanced tokamak plasmas: impact on plasmas profiles, plasma-facing components and heating systems

Large and infrequent collapse events have been observed in high βN advanced tokamak (AT) plasmas in JET. Although they have features similar to large ELMs, they were triggered by core MHD. They caused a considerable loss of the plasma thermal and fast particle energy (∼10% of the total stored energy), but the heat load in the divertor due to these collapse events was small as a fraction of the plasma energy loss compared with regular type-I ELMs. Instead, significant heating of the main chamber wall was observed. A large, toroidally asymmetric, increase in the neutral gas pressure outside the plasma was observed after such events, which caused arcs in the lower hybrid (LH) and ion cyclotron (IC) heating systems and increased reionization in the neutral beam (NB) injectors. The collapses resulted in a reduction in the electron and ion temperatures and toroidal rotation of the whole plasma, a rise in Zeff; and a sufficiently large increase in the peripheral electron density to completely black-out the ECE emission from the plasma core. These features have been modelled to gain an understanding of the plasma behaviour associated with these collapse events and the implication for the operation of AT plasma scenarios with high additional heating power will be discussed.

Impact of off-axis RF current drive on JET advanced scenarios

The impact of the radio-frequency heating and current drive systems on JET advanced scenarios at high density is analysed by means of the CRONOS suite of codes for integrated tokamak modelling. In particular, the performance of the proposed electron cyclotron heating and current drive system for JET is evaluated. As a first step, the code is applied in the interpretative mode to analyse two high power advanced scenario discharges of JET, in order to validate both the heating and current drive computational modules and the overall simulation procedure. Then, JET advanced scenarios are studied by predictive simulations on the basis of previous results. The simulations show that lower hybrid and electron cyclotron heating and current drive systems can together provide off-axis current in order to create and sustain steady-state scenarios on JET at high density. These results give deeper insight into the future advanced scenarios in ITER, since they establish a clear way to test some key aspects of them in present day devices such as JET.

Manufacturing process and tests of a lower hybrid passive active multi-junction launcher for long pulse experiments on Tore-Supra

A new Passive Active Multijunction (PAM) Lower Hybrid heating and Current Drive (LHCD) launcher, has been successfully manufactured and tested on Tore-Supra (TS). The design and the fabrication of this new actively cooled launcher based on the PAM concept, as the present ITER LHCD design, is a major component of the TS CIMES project (Components for the Injection of Matter and Energy in Steady-state), and will play a key role in the TS near term program. To achieve 1000 s pulses with a power flux of 25 MW/m 2 the PAM launcher has been designed for steady state (CW) operation (active cooling) with the objective of coupling 2.7 MW of LHCD power to the plasma at 3.7 GHz with a parallel index N ∥ = 1.7 ± 0.2. The launcher has achieved its qualifications tests, i.e. low power Radio Frequency measurements, vacuum and hydraulic leak tests, and has been installed on Tore-Supra tokamak in September 2009. It is commissioning on plasma started a month later, quickly achieving its design performance of 2.7 MW on a 35 s pulse. After a technical description of the PAM, this paper presents an overview of the project phases (RF optimization, manufacturing and qualification) and concludes with the first experimental results of the PAM.

Parameters of turbulent structures at the periphery of the FT-2 tokamak

Results are presented from probe measurements carried out in the scrape-off layer of the FT-2 tokamak in the course of additional lower hybrid heating, during which an L-H transition was observed. The objective of this study was to obtain information on the parameters of blobs-turbulent structures with enhanced plasma density. The measurements were performed not only on the low-field side of the torus, but also on the high-field side, which is still poorly studied. Coherent structures with radial velocities directed both toward the vessel wall and into the plasma column were revealed at the tokamak periphery. Blobs propagating toward the vessel wall were found to prevail both before and after the L-H transition. The average radial velocity of blobs in the L- and H-modes was determined experimentally. The dependence of the radial blob velocity on the transverse size and density of the structure agrees with the ballooning mode model. It is found that the average value of the poloidal blob velocity is four to five times higher than the average radial velocity. The results of measurements carried out on both sides of the torus indicate the presence of internal poloidal polarization of blobs. The average drift velocity of such polarized structures is directed toward the vessel wall. The L-H transition is accompanied by a reduction in the radial velocity. At the same time, the average plasma density inside the structures observed on the low-field side increases appreciably during the transition. The obtained dependences of the radial blob velocity on the plasma density inside the structure generally agree with predictions of the ballooning mode model.

3D electromagnetic analyses during plasma disruption for the Tore Supra lower hybrid passive active multi-junction launcher

A Passive Active Multijunction (PAM) Lower Hybrid heating and Current Drive (LHCD) antenna has been installed on Tore Supra in 2009. The design and the fabrication of this antenna based on the passive-active multijunction concept is a major part of the CIMES project (components for the injection of mater and energy in steady-state) on Tore Supra. The antenna made of copper and stainless steel has to withstand important electromagnetic forces due to eddy currents during plasma disruption. 3D electromagnetic analyses have been performed with the ANSYS code to calculate the eddy currents and the electromagnetic forces.

The Ion Cyclotron, Lower Hybrid and Alfven Wave Heating Methods

This lecture covers the practical features and experimental results of the three heating methods. The emphasis is on ion cyclotron heating. First, we briefly come back to the main non-collisional heating mechanisms and to the particular features of the quasilinear coefficient in the ion cyclotron range of frequencies (ICRF). The specific case of the ion-ion hybrid resonance is treated, as well as the polarisation issue and minority heating scheme. The various ICRF scenarios are reviewed. The experimental applications of ion cyclotron resonance heating (ICRH) systems are outlined. Then, the lower hybrid and Alfvén wave heating and current drive experimental results are covered more briefly. Where applicable, the prospects for ITER are commented.

Lower hybrid heating and current drive on the Alcator C-Mod tokamak

On the Alcator C-Mod tokamak, lower hybrid current drive (LHCD) is being used to modify the current profile with the aim of obtaining advanced tokamak (AT) performance in plasmas with parameters similar to those that would be required on ITER. To date, power levels in excess of 1 MW at a frequency of 4.6 GHz have been coupled into a variety of plasmas. Experiments have established that LHCD on C-Mod behaves globally as predicted by theory. Bulk current drive efficiencies, n20IlhR/Plh ∼ 0.25, inferred from magnetics and MSE are in line with theory. Quantitative comparisons between local measurements, MSE, ECE and hard x-ray bremsstrahlung, and theory/simulation using the GENRAY, TORIC-LH CQL3D and TSC-LSC codes have been performed. These comparisons have demonstrated the off-axis localization of the current drive, its magnitude and location dependence on the launched n∥ spectrum, and the use of LHCD during the current ramp to save volt-seconds and delay the peaking of the current profile. Broadening of the x-ray emission profile during ICRF heating indicates that the current drive location can be controlled by the electron temperature, as expected. In addition, an alteration in the plasma toroidal rotation profile during LHCD has been observed with a significant rotation in the counter-current direction. Notably, the rotation is accompanied by peaking of the density and temperature profiles on a current diffusion time scale inside of the half radius where the LH absorption is taking place.

Parameters of peripheral plasma fluctuations in the FT-2 tokamak

Probe measurements in a peripheral plasma region of the FT-2 tokamak have been performed in experiments with lower hybrid heating and during the subsequent transition to an improved confinement regime. The average characteristics of high-density plasma structures and the velocity of their propagation in the radial and poloidal directions are determined by the conditional averaging technique and compared to the results obtained using some other methods of data processing. It is established that a quasi-coherent mode can exist on the inner side of the torus.