Optimized tomography methods for plasma emissivity reconstruction at the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak

The soft X-ray (SXR) emission provides valuable insight into processes happening inside of high-temperature plasmas. A standard method for deriving the local emissivity profiles of the plasma from the line-of-sight integrals measured by pinhole cameras is the tomographic inversion. Such an inversion is challenging due to its ill-conditioned nature and because the reconstructed profiles depend not only on the quality of the measurements but also on the inversion algorithm used. This paper provides a detailed description of several tomography algorithms, which solve the inversion problem of Tikhonov regularization with linear computational complexity in the number of basis functions. The feasibility of combining these methods with the minimum Fisher information regularization is demonstrated, and various statistical methods for the optimal choice of the regularization parameter are investigated with emphasis on their reliability and robustness. Finally, the accuracy and the capability of the methods are demonstrated by reconstructions of experimental SXR profiles, featuring poloidal asymmetric impurity distributions as measured at the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak

Analysis of metallic impurities during the application of three-ion ICRH scenario at Jet-iLW

The effect of the novel ‘three-ion’ D-(3He)-H minority ICRH heating scheme on the behavior of the metallic impurities at JET-ILW is discussed. The reported experiment was performed in L-mode plasmas at a magnetic field BT = 3.2 T, plasma current Ip = 2 MA and central plasma densities ne(0) ≈ 4×1019 m-3. ICRH power was delivered with dipole or +π/2 antenna phasing at f ≈ 32.2-33MHz, placing the 3He cyclotron resonance at the plasma core. The edge isotopic ratio H/(H+D) was varied between 73 and 92%, and 3He concentration in the range of 0.1-1.5% to assess the sensitivity of the scheme to the detailed plasma composition. The results of our analysis show a linear increase of the plasma effective charge Zeff, radiated power Prad,bulk and content of metallic impurities with ICRF power. The observed scattering of the points reflects the difference in the plasma composition and ICRF antenna phasing. For discharges heated with similar ICRH power level ~4MW, our analysis indicates that for a large range of H/(H+D) the novel scenario effectively heats the plasma with reduced content of metallic impurities. The impurities are shown to be concentrated mainly around the mid-radius region of the plasma. We conclude this paper with a discussion of the effect of the long-period sawteeth on the observed dynamics of metallic impurities in the plasma core

Negative triangularity scenarios: from TCV and AUG experiments to DTT predictions

Experiments, gyrokinetic simulations and transport predictions were performed to investigate if a negative triangularity (NT) L-mode option for the Divertor Tokamak Test (DTT) full-power scenario would perform similarly to the positive triangularity (PT) H-mode reference scenario, avoiding the harmful edge localized modes (ELMs). The simulations show that a beneficial effect of NT coming from the edge/scrape-off layer (SOL) region ρ tor > 0.9 is needed to allow the actual NT L-mode option to perform like the PT H-mode. Dedicated experiments at TCV and AUG, with DTT-like shapes, show an optimistic picture. In TCV, experiments indicate that even with the relatively small triangularity of the DTT NT scenario, a large beneficial effect of NT comes from the plasma edge and SOL, allowing NT L-modes to outperform PT L-modes with the same power input, reaching the same central pressures as PT H-modes with twice as much applied heating power. For AUG, NT plasmas go into H-mode more easily than for TCV, but always present much smaller pedestals compared with PT plasmas with the same input power, showing a much weaker or absent ELM activity. However, NT has a smaller beneficial effect for AUG than for TCV, with NT pulses outperforming PT pulses with the same input power only for an ECRH-only case with relatively low input power. For the considered AUG cases, PT pulses perform better than NT ones at higher ECRH power or with mixed NBI and ECRH power. Based on this analysis, the NT option is a viable alternative for the DTT full power scenario, providing high performance plasmas with reduced or absent ELMs

ITER-like current ramps in JET with ILW: experiments, modelling and consequences for ITER

Since the ITER-like wall in JET (JET-ILW) came into operation, dedicated ITER-like plasma current ( I p ) ramp-up (RU) and ramp-down (RD) experiments have been performed and matched to similar discharges with the carbon wall (JET-C). The experiments show that access to H-mode early in the I p</p

ITER-like current ramps in JET with ILW: experiments, modelling and consequences for ITER

Since the ITER-like wall in JET (JET-ILW) came into operation, dedicated ITER-like plasma current ( I p ) ramp-up (RU) and ramp-down (RD) experiments have been performed and matched to similar discharges with the carbon wall (JET-C). The experiments show that access to H-mode early in the I p</p

First principle integrated modeling of multi-channel transport including Tungsten in JET

For the first time, over five confinement times, the self-consistent flux driven time evolution of heat, momentum transport and particle fluxes of electrons and multiple ions including Tungsten (W) is modeled within the integrated modeling platform JETTO [Romanelli M et al PFR 2014], using first principle-based codes: namely, QuaLiKiz [Bourdelle C. et al. PPCF 2016] for turbulent transport and NEO [Belli E A and Candy J PPCF 2008] for neoclassical transport. For a JET-ILW pulse, the evolution of measured temperatures, rotation and density profiles are successfully predicted and the observed W central core accumulation is obtained. The poloidal asymmetries of the W density modfying its neoclassical and turbulent transport are accounted for. Actuators of the W core accumulation are studied: removing the central particle source annihilates the central W accumulation whereas the suppression of the torque reduces significantly the W central accumulation. Finally, the presence of W slightly reduces main ion heat turbulent transport through complex nonlinear interplays involving radiation, effective charge impact on ITG and collisionality.</p

Progress from ASDEX Upgrade experiments in preparing the physics basis of ITER operation and DEMO scenario development

An overview of recent results obtained at the tokamak ASDEX Upgrade (AUG) is given. A work flow for predictive profile modelling of AUG discharges was established which is able to reproduce experimental H-mode plasma profiles based on engineering parameters only. In the plasma center, theoretical predictions on plasma current redistribution by a dynamo effect were confirmed experimentally. For core transport, the stabilizing effect of fast ion distributions on turbulent transport is shown to be important to explain the core isotope effect and improves the description of hollow low-Z impurity profiles. The L-H power threshold of hydrogen plasmas is not affected by small helium admixtures and it increases continuously from the deuterium to the hydrogen level when the hydrogen concentration is raised from 0 to 100%. One focus of recent campaigns was the search for a fusion relevant integrated plasma scenario without large edge localised modes (ELMs). Results from six different ELM-free confinement regimes are compared with respect to reactor relevance: ELM suppression by magnetic perturbation coils could be attributed to toroidally asymmetric turbulent fluctuations in the vicinity of the separatrix. Stable improved confinement mode plasma phases with a detached inner divertor were obtained using a feedback control of the plasma β. The enhanced D α H-mode regime was extended to higher heating power by feedback controlled radiative cooling with argon. The quasi-coherent exhaust regime was developed into an integrated scenario at high heating power and energy confinement, with a detached divertor and without large ELMs. Small ELMs close to the separatrix lead to peeling-ballooning stability and quasi continuous power exhaust. Helium beam density fluctuation measurements confirm that transport close to the separatrix is important to achieve the different ELM-free regimes. Based on separatrix plasma parameters and interchange-drift-Alfvén turbulence, an analytic model was derived that reproduces the experimentally found important operational boundaries of the density limit and between L- and H-mode confinement. Feedback control for the X-point radiator (XPR) position was established as an important element for divertor detachment control. Stable and detached ELM-free phases with H-mode confinement quality were obtained when the XPR was moved 10 cm above the X-point. Investigations of the plasma in the future flexible snow-flake divertor of AUG by means of first SOLPS-ITER simulations with drifts activated predict beneficial detachment properties and the activation of an additional strike point by the drifts

Overview of ASDEX upgrade results in view of ITER and DEMO

Experiments on ASDEX Upgrade (AUG) in 2021 and 2022 have addressed a number of critical issues for ITER and EU DEMO. A major objective of the AUG programme is to shed light on the underlying physics of confinement, stability, and plasma exhaust in order to allow reliable extrapolation of results obtained on present day machines to these reactor-grade devices. Concerning pedestal physics, the mitigation of edge localised modes (ELMs) using resonant magnetic perturbations (RMPs) was found to be consistent with a reduction of the linear peeling-ballooning stability threshold due to the helical deformation of the plasma. Conversely, ELM suppression by RMPs is ascribed to an increased pedestal transport that keeps the plasma away from this boundary. Candidates for this increased transport are locally enhanced turbulence and a locked magnetic island in the pedestal. The enhanced D-alpha (EDA) and quasi-continuous exhaust (QCE) regimes have been established as promising ELM-free scenarios. Here, the pressure gradient at the foot of the H-mode pedestal is reduced by a quasi-coherent mode, consistent with violation of the high-n ballooning mode stability limit there. This is suggestive that the EDA and QCE regimes have a common underlying physics origin. In the area of transport physics, full radius models for both L- and H-modes have been developed. These models predict energy confinement in AUG better than the commonly used global scaling laws, representing a large step towards the goal of predictive capability. A new momentum transport analysis framework has been developed that provides access to the intrinsic torque in the plasma core. In the field of exhaust, the X-Point Radiator (XPR), a cold and dense plasma region on closed flux surfaces close to the X-point, was described by an analytical model that provides an understanding of its formation as well as its stability, i.e., the conditions under which it transitions into a deleterious MARFE with the potential to result in a disruptive termination. With the XPR close to the divertor target, a new detached divertor concept, the compact radiative divertor, was developed. Here, the exhaust power is radiated before reaching the target, allowing close proximity of the X-point to the target. No limitations by the shallow field line angle due to the large flux expansion were observed, and sufficient compression of neutral density was demonstrated. With respect to the pumping of non-recycling impurities, the divertor enrichment was found to mainly depend on the ionisation energy of the impurity under consideration. In the area of MHD physics, analysis of the hot plasma core motion in sawtooth crashes showed good agreement with nonlinear 2-fluid simulations. This indicates that the fast reconnection observed in these events is adequately described including the pressure gradient and the electron inertia in the parallel Ohm’s law. Concerning disruption physics, a shattered pellet injection system was installed in collaboration with the ITER International Organisation. Thanks to the ability to vary the shard size distribution independently of the injection velocity, as well as its impurity admixture, it was possible to tailor the current quench rate, which is an important requirement for future large devices such as ITER. Progress was also made modelling the force reduction of VDEs induced by massive gas injection on AUG. The H-mode density limit was characterised in terms of safe operational space with a newly developed active feedback control method that allowed the stability boundary to be probed several times within a single discharge without inducing a disruptive termination. Regarding integrated operation scenarios, the role of density peaking in the confinement of the ITER baseline scenario (high plasma current) was clarified. The usual energy confinement scaling ITER98(p,y) does not capture this effect, but the more recent H20 scaling does, highlighting again the importance of developing adequate physics based models. Advanced tokamak scenarios, aiming at large non-inductive current fraction due to non-standard profiles of the safety factor in combination with high normalised plasma pressure were studied with a focus on their access conditions. A method to guide the approach of the targeted safety factor profiles was developed, and the conditions for achieving good confinement were clarified. Based on this, two types of advanced scenarios (‘hybrid’ and ‘elevated’ q-profile) were established on AUG and characterised concerning their plasma performance