Nonlocal energetic particle mode in a JT-60U plasma

Energetic-ion driven instability in a Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute Tokamak-60 Upgrade (JT-60U) [S. Ishida et al., Phys. Plasmas 11, 2532 (2004)] plasma was investigated using a simulation code for magnetohydrodynamics and energetic particles. The spatial profile of the unstable mode peaks near the plasma center where the safety factor profile is flat. The unstable mode is not a toroidal Alfv?n eigenmode (TAE) because the spatial profile deviates from the expected location of TAE and the spatial profile consists of a single primary harmonic m/n = 2/1 where m and n are poloidal and toroidal mode numbers. The real frequency of the unstable mode is close to the experimental starting frequency of the fast frequency sweeping mode. Simulation results demonstrate that energetic-ion orbit width and energetic-ion pressure significantly broaden radial profile of the unstable mode. For the smallest value among the investigated energetic-ion orbit width, the unstable mode is localized within 20% of the minor radius. This gives an upper limit of the spatial profile width of the unstable mode which the magnetohydrodynamic effects alone can induce. For the experimental condition of the JT-60U plasma, energetic ions broaden the radial width of the unstable mode spatial profile by a factor of 3. The unstable mode is primarily induced by the energetic particles

Density limit in discharges with high internal inductance on JT-60U

High densities exceeding the Greenwald limit by a factor of 1.7 have been obtained in L-mode discharges with high internal inductances of elli as high as 2.8 in JT-60U. The internal inductance is controlled by ramping down the plasma current. In addition to the extension of the operational regime limited by disruptions, confinement performance remains as good as an H89PL factor of 1.6 even above the Greenwald limit. While an earlier high elli study has indicated core confinement improvement due to enhancement of the poloidal field, the additional improvement of the tolerance against the high density turned out to be correlated with high edge temperature. The normalized density when the detachment occurs, characterized by a decrease in the Dα signal at the divertor, is even higher in the case with no disruption than in the case with a disruption. These comparisons have indicated that the improvement in thermal and particle transport does exist in the periphery and in the edge in high elli plasmas, and the shift of the density limit towards higher densities is observed coincidently. Although the high elli discharge studied here lies outside the usual parameter space for steady-state operation of a tokamak, demonstration of a stable discharge with good confinement beyond the Greenwald limit suggests that the magnetic shear at the edge is one key parameter to uncover the physical elements of the operational density limit

Experimental observation of the optical spin transfer torque

The spin transfer torque is a phenomenon in which angular momentum of a spin polarized electrical current entering a ferromagnet is transferred to the magnetization. The effect has opened a new research field of electrically driven magnetization dynamics in magnetic nanostructures and plays an important role in the development of a new generation of memory devices and tunable oscillators. Optical excitations of magnetic systems by laser pulses have been a separate research field whose aim is to explore magnetization dynamics at short time scales and enable ultrafast spintronic devices. We report the experimental observation of the optical spin transfer torque, predicted theoretically several years ago building the bridge between these two fields of spintronics research. In a pump-and-probe optical experiment we measure coherent spin precession in a (Ga,Mn)As ferromagnetic semiconductor excited by circularly polarized laser pulses. During the pump pulse, the spin angular momentum of photo-carriers generated by the absorbed light is transferred to the collective magnetization of the ferromagnet. We interpret the observed optical spin transfer torque and the magnetization precession it triggers on a quantitative microscopic level. Bringing the spin transfer physics into optics introduces a fundamentally distinct mechanism from the previously reported thermal and non-thermal laser excitations of magnets. Bringing optics into the field of spin transfer torques decreases by several orders of magnitude the timescales at which these phenomena are explored and utilized.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

Spectroscopy of 32Ne and the Island of Inversion

We report on the first spectroscopic study of the N=22 nucleus 32Ne at the newly completed RIKEN Radioactive Ion Beam Factory. A single gamma-ray line with an energy of 722(9) keV was observed in both inelastic scattering of a 226 MeV/u 32Ne beam on a Carbon target and proton removal from 33Na at 245 MeV/u. This transition is assigned to the de-excitation of the first J^pi = 2+ state in 32Ne to the 0+ ground state. Interpreted through comparison with state-of-the-art shell model calculations, the low excitation energy demonstrates that the Island of Inversion extends to at least N=22 for the Ne isotopes.Comment: Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Lett. 11 pages, 3 figure