A fast edge charge exchange recombination spectroscopy system at the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak

In this work, a new type of high through-put Czerny-Turner spectrometer has been developed which allows us to acquire multiple channels simultaneously with a repetition time on the order of 10 μ s at different wavelengths. The spectrometer has been coupled to the edge charge exchange recom- bination system at ASDEX Upgrade which has been recently refurbished with new lines of sight. Construction features, calibration methods, and initial measurements obtained with the new setup will be presented.European Commission (EUROfusion 633053

Overview of the JET results in support to ITER

The 2014–2016 JET results are reviewed in the light of their significance for optimising the ITER research plan for the active and non-active operation. More than 60 h of plasma operation with ITER first wall materials successfully took place since its installation in 2011. New multi-machine scaling of the type I-ELM divertor energy flux density to ITER is supported by first principle modelling. ITER relevant disruption experiments and first principle modelling are reported with a set of three disruption mitigation valves mimicking the ITER setup. Insights of the L–H power threshold in Deuterium and Hydrogen are given, stressing the importance of the magnetic configurations and the recent measurements of fine-scale structures in the edge radial electric. Dimensionless scans of the core and pedestal confinement provide new information to elucidate the importance of the first wall material on the fusion performance. H-mode plasmas at ITER triangularity (H = 1 at βN ~ 1.8 and n/nGW ~ 0.6) have been sustained at 2 MA during 5 s. The ITER neutronics codes have been validated on high performance experiments. Prospects for the coming D–T campaign and 14 MeV neutron calibration strategy are reviewed.European Commission (EUROfusion 633053

Pedestal and Er profile evolution during an edge localized mode cycle at ASDEX Upgrade

The upgrade of the edge charge exchange recombination spectroscopy diagnostic at ASDEX Upgrade has enabled highly spatially resolved me asurements of the impurity ion dynamics during an edge-localized mode cycle ( ELM ) with unprecedented temp oral resolution, i.e. 65 μ s. The increase of transport during an ELM induces a relaxation of the ion, electron edge gradients in impurity density and fl ows. Detailed characterization of the recovery of the edge temperature gradients reveals a difference in the ion and electron channe l: the maximum ion temperature gradient T i is re-established on similar timescales as n e , which is faster than the recovery of T e .Afterthe clamping of the maximum gradient, T i and T e at the pedestal top continue to rise up to the next ELM while n e stays constant which means that the temperatur e pedestal and the resu lting pedestal pressure widen until the next ELM. The edge radial electric fi eld E r at the ELM crash is found to reduce to typical L-mode values and its ma ximum recovers to its pre-ELM conditions on a similar time scale as for n e and T i . Within the uncertainties, the measurements of E r align with their neoclassical predictions E r,neo for most of the ELM cycle, thus indicating that E r is dominated by collisional processes. However, between 2 and 4 ms af ter the ELM crash, other contributions to E B ́ fl ow, e.g. zonal fl ows or ion orbit effects, could not be excluded within the uncertainties.European Commission (EUROfusion 633053

The I-mode confinement regime at ASDEX Upgrade: global propert ies and characterization of strongly intermittent density fluctuations

Properties of the I­mode confinement regime on the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak are summarized. A weak dependence of the power threshold for the L­I transition on the toroidal magnetic field strength is found. During improved confinement, the edge radial electric field well deepens. Stability calculations show that the I­mode pedestal is peeling­ballooning stable. Turbulence investigations reveal strongly intermittent density fluctuations linked to the weakly coherent mode in the confined plasma, which become stronger as the confinement quality increases. Across all investigated structure sizes ( ≈ ⊥ k 5 – 12 cm − 1 , with ⊥ k the perpendicular wavenumber of turbulent density fluctuations), the intermittent turbulence bursts are observed. Comparison with bolometry data shows that they move poloidally toward the X­point and finally end up in the divertor. This might be indicative that they play a role in inhibiting the density profile growth, such that no pedestal is formed in the edge density profile.European Union (EUROfusion 633053)European Union (EUROfusion AWP15­ENR­09/IPP­02

Experimental conditions to suppress edge localised modes by magnetic perturbations in the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak

Access conditions for full suppression of Edge Localised Modes (ELMs) by Magnetic Perturbations (MP) in low density high confinement mode (H-mode) plasmas are studied in the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak. The main empirical requirements for full ELM suppression in our experiments are: 1. The poloidal spectrum of the MP must be aligned for best plasma response from weakly stable kink-modes, which amplify the perturbation, 2. The plasma edge density must be below a critical value, $3.3 \times 10^{19}$~m$^{-3}$. The edge collisionality is in the range $\nu^*_i = 0.15-0.42$ (ions) and $\nu^*_e = 0.15-0.25$ (electrons). However, our data does not show that the edge collisionality is the critical parameter that governs access to ELM suppression. 3. The pedestal pressure must be kept sufficiently low to avoid destabilisation of small ELMs. This requirement implies a systematic reduction of pedestal pressure of typically 30\% compared to unmitigated ELMy H-mode in otherwise similar plasmas. 4. The edge safety factor $q_{95}$ lies within a certain window. Within the range probed so far, $q_{95}=3.5-4.2$, one such window, $q_{95}=3.57-3.95$ has been identified. Within the range of plasma rotation encountered so far, no apparent threshold of plasma rotation for ELM suppression is found. This includes cases with large cross field electron flow in the entire pedestal region, for which two-fluid MHD models predict that the resistive plasma response to the applied MP is shielded

Assessment of the current density evolution during an ELM cycle using beam emission polarimetry at ASDEX Upgrade

EUROfusion Consortium 63305

Beam-Ion Acceleration during Edge Localized Modes in the ASDEX Upgrade Tokamak

The acceleration of beam ions during edge localized modes (ELMs) in a tokamak is observed for the first time through direct measurements of fast-ion losses in low collisionality plasmas. The accelerated beamion population exhibits well-localized velocity-space structures which are revealed by means of tomographic inversion of the measurement, showing energy gains of the order of tens of keV. This suggests that the ion acceleration results from a resonant interaction between the beam ions and parallel electric fields arising during the ELM. Orbit simulations are carried out to identify the mode-particle resonances responsible for the energy gain in the particle phase space. The observation motivates the incorporation of a kinetic description of fast particles in ELM models and may contribute to a better understanding of the mechanisms responsible for particle acceleration, ubiquitous in astrophysical and space plasmas.H2020 Marie- Sklodowska Curie programme (Grant No. 708257)Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad. FIS2015-69362-