Poloidal Rotation Research Articles

Design of a Launcher for the 105-GHz ECRH System on J-TEXT

To enhance parameters of the plasma and improve the magnetic confinement performance, a 105-GHz electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) system is being built on the J-TEXT. We designed a quasi-optical launcher which mainly consists of a focusing mirror and a steering mirror. The focusing mirror is optimized by considering the localized deposition, and the steering mirror is close to the plasma boundary for flexible adjustment of the toroidal and poloidal injection angles of the wave. The toroidal and poloidal rotation angles of the steering mirror are independently controlled by the mechanical structure. For our design, the beam radius at the plasma center for perpendicular incidence is about 20 mm; the adjustable range of the toroidal and poloidal injection angles is ±14° and ±31°, respectively. These can meet the requirements for physics experiments on J-TEXT.

Poloidal Rotation and Edge Ion Temperature Measurements Using Spectroscopy Diagnostic on Aditya-U Tokamak

The impurity ion poloidal rotation and ion temperature from the Aditya-U tokamak plasma have been measured using a high-resolution spectroscopic diagnostic. It comprises of a high resolution, 1 m, f/8.7, Czerny-Turner configuration spectrometer along with charge coupled device (CCD) detector. The system monitors the spectral line emission of C2+ impurity ions at 464.74 nm from the top port of the Aditya-U vacuum vessel with the lines of sight covering the plasma minor radius from r = 11.55 cm to 21.55 cm. The impurity ion poloidal rotation velocity and temperature have been estimated using the Doppler shift and Doppler broadening of the spectral lines respectively. The maximum poloidal rotation at a radial location of 21.55 cm in the edge of the plasma during the plasma current flat top was observed to be ~4 km/s for the analyzed discharges and the ion temperatures measured in the edge were in the range of 32–40 eV.

Dependence of the resonant magnetic perturbation penetration threshold on plasma parameters and ions in helical plasmas

We investigate the penetration threshold of resonant magnetic perturbation (RMP) by the external coils in the Large Helical Device (LHD) for various plasma aspect ratio configurations. The qualitative dependence on the collisionality is opposite to that in a high plasma aspect configuration; this is a quite unique property first found in the LHD. We also investigate the threshold dependence on the ion species, and find that the threshold in deuterium discharges is much smaller than that in hydrogen discharges. In all cases the thresholds are higher as the poloidal rotation becomes faster, which shows that poloidal rotation is the dominant driver to the RMP shielding. This is qualitatively consistent with the torque balance model between the electromagnetic and poloidal viscous torques. In a configuration of the LHD, the dependence of the threshold on the density is qualitatively similar to that in Ohmic tokamak plasmas, but the beta dependence is opposite to that of tokamaks. The difference arises from the cause of the viscous torque.

DEMO First Wall misalignment study

Within the DEMO first wall 3D shape design activity, studying the effect of misalignment started in 2017. Such assessments have been conducted in the past for ITER and heat flux penalty factor maps have been created [1]; this route could be a feasible approach in the case of DEMO as well.This paper details the methodology that allows the effects of misalignments to be assessed for DEMO. The test cases focus on steady-state plasma operation (start of flat top). The aim is to understand the effect of basic misaligned cases, for example radial protrusion/recession or poloidal rotation of a single module. To do so, particle tracing software codes such as SMARDDA and PFCflux have been used to create heat flux maps that reach the first wall surfaces. These heat flux maps, combined with the specified radiative heat load, are used as input for simplified FE models of the blanket modules. As a result, not only the effect on heat flux, but also on the temperature (and later stress) distributions can be estimated.The paper describes how the obtained results can be implemented in ANSYS in the identified critical cases from the test matrix that has been studied. The results obtained from the nominal heat flux map are compared to the misaligned cases. The mitigating effect of the 3D nature of the heat conduction on the peak temperature is discussed.This work paves the way to assessing more realistic combined misaligned cases (such as misalignment from different thermal expansion, or due to electromagnetic loads etc. of neighbouring blankets) in the future.

Soft x-ray tomographic reconstruction of Heliotron J plasma for the study of magnetohydrodynamic equilibrium and stability

The preparation for an experimental soft x-ray tomography study on the Heliotron J (H-J) machine is carried out, with the objectives of evaluating the capability of the current soft x-ray tomographic system in terms of the identification of different mode structures and their poloidal rotation, and the axis shift with different plasma and machine parameters, and fixing the physics goals for the experimental study. These preparations were carried out via a simulated soft x-ray data set arising from different plasma conditions, such as magnetic islands, low beta and high beta. Soft x-ray tomography (SXT) is performed by the discrete pixel method including singular value decomposition and Phillips–Tikhonov regularization, to obtain clear and smooth images. The H-J soft x-ray tomography results from simulated soft x-rays for the equilibrium H-J plasma sensed the magnetic axis shift clearly and an estimate was also achieved. Successful reconstruction for mode structure m = 1/n = 1 was obtained along with the realization of the poloidal rotation of the structure. The reconstruction for the m = 2/n = 1 mode was not very clear for the current soft x-ray diagnostic design. Effective mode identification was not possible due to the lack of measurements. The SXT from the current soft x-ray diagnostic on H-J, the magnetic axis shift can be estimated and the m = 1/n = 1 mode can be studied. Study of higher poloidal modes is difficult with the current design.

Electric Field and Poloidal Rotation in the Turbulent Edge Plasma of the T-10 Tokamak

The dynamics of turbulent edge plasma in the T-10 tokamak is simulated numerically by solving reduced nonlinear MHD equations of Braginskii’s two-fluid hydrodynamics. It is shown that the poloidal plasma velocity is determined by the combined effect of two forces: the turbulent Reynolds force FR and the Stringer–Winsor geodesic force FSW, which is associated with the geodesic acoustic mode of the total plasma pressure $$\left\langle {p{\text{sin}}\theta } \right\rangle $$ . It follows from the simulation results that the FR and FSW forces are directed oppositely and partially balance one another. It is shown that, as the electron temperature increases, the resulting balance of these forces changes in such a way that the amplitude of the poloidal ion flow velocity and, accordingly, the electrostatic potential $${{\phi }_{0}}(r,t)$$ decrease. As the plasma density increases, the “driving forces” of turbulence (the dn0/dr and dp0/dr gradients) also increase, while dissipation due to the longitudinal current decreases, which results in an increase in the amplitude of turbulent fluctuations and the Reynolds force FR. On one hand, the force FSW increases with increasing plasma density due to an increase in the pressure $$\left\langle {p{\text{sin}}\theta } \right\rangle $$ ; however, on the other hand, it decreases in view of the factor 1/n0. As a result, the net force driving poloidal rotation increases, which leads to the growth of the plasma potential. Both under electron-cyclotron resonance heating and in regimes with evolving plasma density, the results of numerical simulations qualitatively agree with experimental data on the electrostatic potential of the T-10 plasma.

Применение метода многочастотного допплеровского обратного рассеяния для исследования альфвеновских мод в токамаке

The results of the study of toroidal Alfven modes (TAE) using the multi-frequency Doppler backscattering (DBS) in the Globus-M tokamak are presented. The article is focused on the presentation of the Alfven mode registration method for multichannel probing. The possible causes of the observed oscillations of the poloidal plasma rotation velocity at the Alfvén oscillation frequencies are discussed in detail. The data on the spatial distribution of Alfvén modes revealed by multi-frequency DBS are given. The recommendations for the further development of the DBS with the aim of a more detailed study of TAE in tokamaks were determined.

Simulation of plasma turbulence in the periphery of diverted tokamak by using the GBS code

We report on the implementation of diverted magnetic equilibria in GBS and on first simulations in this geometry. GBS is a simulation code used to evolve plasma turbulence in the tokamak periphery by solving the drift-reduced Braginskii's equations. The model equations are written in toroidal coordinates, abandoning flux coordinate systems that are not defined at the X-point. A fourth order finite difference scheme is used for the implementation of the spatial operators on poloidally and toroidally staggered grids. The GBS numerical implementation is verified through the method of manufactured solutions. The code convergence properties are tested on a relatively simple analytical X-point configuration. Finally, the diverted equilibrium from a TCV tokamak discharge is implemented in the new version of GBS. The analysis of the simulation results is focused on blob formation, radial transport, and plasma poloidal rotation mechanisms.

Spatio-Temporal Structure of Alfvén Waves in the TUMAN-3M Tokamak

Spatial and temporal structure of Alfven waves was studied with array of magnetic probes in compact tokamak TUMAN-3M. Poloidal mode numbers have been determined for Alfven instabilities bursts of the two types: short and long ones. Absence of poloidal rotation of magnetic field perturbations was found for both types of bursts. Also, in both cases, no pronounced asymmetry of magnetic field perturbation in the direction of the major radius was detected.

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.

Calculation of large-aspect-ratio tokamak and toroidally-averaged stellarator equilibria of high-beta reduced magnetohydrodynamics via simulated annealing

A simulated annealing (SA) relaxation method is used for the calculation of high-beta reduced magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) equilibria in toroidal geometry. The SA method, based on artificial dynamics derived from the MHD Hamiltonian structure, is used to calculate equilibria of large-aspect-ratio and circular-cross-section tokamaks as well as toroidally averaged stellarators. Tokamak equilibria including incompressible poloidal rotations are obtained and the Shafranov shift is seen to increase nearly quadratically in the rotation speed. A mapping procedure between non-rotating and poloidally rotating equilibria is shown to explain the quadratic dependence of equilibria shift on rotation. Calculated stellarator equilibria are seen to agree reasonably with previous results. The numerical results demonstrate the first successful application of the SA method to obtain toroidal equilibria.

V-band Doppler backscattering diagnostic in the TCV tokamak.

A variable configuration V-band heterodyne Doppler back-scattering diagnostic has been recently made operational in the tokamak configuration variable. This article describes the hardware setup options, flexible quasi-optical launcher antenna, data-analysis techniques, and first data. The diagnostic uses a fast arbitrary waveform generator as the main oscillator and commercial vector network analyzer extension modules as the main mm-wave hardware. It allows sweepable single or multi-frequency operation. A flexible quasi-optical launcher antenna allows 3D poloidal (10°-58°) and toroidal (-180° to 180°) steering of the beam with 0.2° accuracy. A pair of fast HE11 miter-bend polarizers allow flexible coupling to either O or X mode and programmable polarization changes during the shot. These have been used to measure the magnetic-field pitch angle in the edge of the plasma by monitoring the backscattered signal power. Ray-tracing simulations reveal an available k⊥ range between 3 and 16 cm-1 with a resolution of 2-4 cm-1. Perpendicular rotation velocity estimates compare well against ExB plasma poloidal rotation estimates from charge exchange recombination spectroscopy.

Пространственно-временнaя структура альфвеновских волн в токамаке ТУМАН-3М

AbstractSpatial and temporal structure of Alfvén waves was studied with array of magnetic probes in compact tokamak TUMAN-3M. Poloidal mode numbers have been determined for Alfven instabilities bursts of the two types: short and long ones. Absence of poloidal rotation of magnetic field perturbations was found for both types of bursts. Also, in both cases, no pronounced asymmetry of magnetic field perturbation in the direction of the major radius was detected.

Measurement of the complete core plasma flow across the LOC–SOC transition at ASDEX Upgrade

A newly installed core charge exchange recombination spectroscopy (CXRS) diagnostic at ASDEX Upgrade (AUG) enables the evaluation of the core poloidal rotation () through the inboard-outboard asymmetry of the toroidal rotation with an accuracy of 0.5 to 1 km . Using this technique, the total plasma flow has been measured in Ohmic L-mode plasmas across the transition from the linear to saturated ohmic confinement (LOC–SOC) regimes. The core poloidal rotation of the plasma around mid-radius is found to be always in the ion diamagnetic direction, in disagreement with neoclassical (NC) predictions. The edge rotation is found to be electron-directed and consistent with NC codes. This measurement provides as well the missing ingredient to evaluate the core velocity () from data only, which can then be compared to measurements of the perpendicular velocity of the turbulent fluctuations () to gain information on the turbulent phase velocity (). The non neoclassical from CXRS leads to good agreement between and indicating that is small and at similar values as found with gyrokinetic simulations. Moreover, the data shows a shift of in the ion-diamagnetic direction at the edge after the transition from LOC to SOC consistent with a change in the dominant turbulence regime. The upgrade of the core CXRS system provides as well a deeper insight into the intrinsic rotation. This paper shows that the reversal of the core toroidal rotation occurs clearly after the LOC–SOC transition and concomitant with the peaking of the electron density.

Analysis of ELM stability with extended MHD models in JET, JT-60U and future JT-60SA tokamak plasmas

The stability with respect to a peeling–ballooning mode (PBM) was investigated numerically with extended MHD simulation codes in JET, JT-60U and future JT-60SA plasmas. The MINERVA-DI code was used to analyze the linear stability, including the effects of rotation and ion diamagnetic drift (), in JET-ILW and JT-60SA plasmas, and the JOREK code was used to simulate nonlinear dynamics with rotation, viscosity and resistivity in JT-60U plasmas. It was validated quantitatively that the ELM trigger condition in JET-ILW plasmas can be reasonably explained by taking into account both the rotation and effects in the numerical analysis. When deuterium poloidal rotation is evaluated based on neoclassical theory, an increase in the effective charge of plasma destabilizes the PBM because of an acceleration of rotation and a decrease in . The difference in the amount of ELM energy loss in JT-60U plasmas rotating in opposite directions was reproduced qualitatively with JOREK. By comparing the ELM affected areas with linear eigenfunctions, it was confirmed that the difference in the linear stability property, due not to the rotation direction but to the plasma density profile, is thought to be responsible for changing the ELM energy loss just after the ELM crash. A predictive study to determine the pedestal profiles in JT-60SA was performed by updating the EPED1 model to include the rotation and effects in the PBM stability analysis. It was shown that the plasma rotation predicted with the neoclassical toroidal viscosity degrades the pedestal performance by about 10% by destabilizing the PBM, but the pressure pedestal height will be high enough to achieve the target parameters required for the ITER-like shape inductive scenario in JT-60SA.

Poloidal rotation driven by electron cyclotron resonance wave in tokamak plasmas

The poloidal electric filed, which is the drive field of poloidal rotation, has been observed and increases obviously after the injection of electron cyclotron resonance wave in HL-2A experiment, and the amplitude of the poloidal electric field is in the order of 103 V/m. Through theoretical analysis using Stringer rotation model, the observed poloidal electric field is of the same order as the theoretical calculation value. In addition, the magnetic pump damping which would damp the poloidal rotation is calculated numerically and the calculation results show that the closer to the core plasmas, the stronger the magnetic pump damping will be. Meanwhile, according to the value of the calculated magnetic pump damping, the threshold of the poloidal electric field which could overcome magnetic pump damping and drive poloidal rotation in tokamak plasmas is given out. Finally, the poloidal rotation velocity over time at different minor radius is studied theoretically.

Collisional damping of the geodesic acoustic mode with poloidal rotation

The collisional damping of the geodesic acoustic mode is investigated by using the gyrokinetic equation with a poloidal rotation flow and a number-conserving Krook collision operator. A dispersion relation of the geodesic acoustic mode with poloidal rotation and collision terms is derived and solved both analytically and numerically. It is shown that poloidal rotation has a significant influence on the collisional damping rate of the geodesic acoustic mode within a certain collision rate and safety factor domain. The variation of the damping rate induced by poloidal rotation depends on the safety factor and collision rate. In addition, the effect of poloidal rotation on the geodesic acoustic mode would be weakened by the safety factor, especially when the safety factor is relatively large. The ratio of the collisional damping rate to the collisionless damping rate of the geodesic acoustic mode in the large safety factor domain is performed, and the critical collision rate is estimated. Besides, the physical mechanism of the results is briefly discussed.

Heavy ion beam probing—diagnostics to study potential and turbulence in toroidal plasmas

Heavy ion beam probing (HIBP) is a unique diagnostics to study the core plasma potential and turbulence. Advanced HIBPs operate in the T-10 tokamak and TJ-II flexible heliac with fine focused (<1 cm) and intense (100 µA) beams. They provide measurements in the wide density interval = (0.3–5) × 1019 m−3, in a wide range of Ohmic and electron cyclotron resonance heated (ECRH) discharges with various currents at T-10, and in the wide range of magnetic configurations with ECR and neutral beam injection (NBI) heating at TJ-II. Time evolution of the radial profiles and/or local values of plasma parameters from high field side (HFS) to low field side (LFS), −1 < ρ < 1, is observed in TJ-II by 125 keV Cs+ ions in a single shot, while LFS (+0.2 < ρ < 1) is observed in T-10 by 300 keV Tl+ ions. Multi-slit energy analyzers provide simultaneously data on the plasma potential φ (by the beam extra energy), plasma density ne (by the beam current), poloidal magnetic field Bpol (by the beam toroidal shift), poloidal electric filed Epol that allows one to derive the electrostatic turbulent particle flux ΓE×B. The cross-phase of density oscillations produces the phase velocity of their poloidal propagation or rotation; also it gives the poloidal mode number. Dual HIBP, consisting of two identical HIBPs located ¼ torus apart provide the long-range correlations of core plasma parameters. Low-noise high-gain electronics allows us to study broadband turbulence and quasi-coherent modes like geodesic acoustic modes and Alfvén eigenmodes.

Efficiency of wave-driven rigid body rotation toroidal confinement

The compensation of vertical drifts in toroidal magnetic fields through a wave-driven poloidal rotation is compared with compensation through the wave driven toroidal current generation to support the classical magnetic rotational transform. The advantages and drawbacks associated with the sustainment of a radial electric field are compared with those associated with the sustainment of a poloidal magnetic field both in terms of energy content and power dissipation. The energy content of a radial electric field is found to be smaller than the energy content of a poloidal magnetic field for a similar set of orbits. The wave driven radial electric field generation efficiency is similarly shown, at least in the limit of large aspect ratio, to be larger than the efficiency of wave-driven toroidal current generation.

Control of neo-classical double tearing modes by differential poloidal rotation in reversed magnetic shear tokamak plasmas

The control of neo-classical tearing modes (NTMs) by the differential rotation in the reversed magnetic shear (RMS) configuration with different separations between two rational surfaces is numerically studied by means of reduced magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations. It is found that the differential rotation with a strong shear at the outer resonant surface can effectively suppress the explosive burst of double tearing modes (DTMs)/NTMs. Critical values of the strength of rotation to suppress the burst are also presented for different bootstrap current fractions . Furthermore, a couple of measurable parameters , corresponding respectively to the triangularity and elongation of the magnetic islands at the outer resonant surface, are introduced to characterize the deformation of islands in the nonlinear phase. It is found that the triangularity is more likely to precisely predict the onset of burst than the island width and elongation . For a given , the critical value of triangularity is obtained by scanning different plasma parameters. Establishing such a database of is helpful to effectively control the development of NTMs in the RMS experimental discharges.