Studies of plasma performance and transport in the advanced toroidal facility (ATF)

Abstract

An overview of recent ATF experimental results and program plans is presented, with emphasis on the role of magnetic configuration controls in transport studies. The ATF operating space is bounded by a density limit that effectively sets a limit on the energy confinement time {tau}{sub E}. Although this limit is not solely due to impurities, it has recently been raised by improved cleanliness following titanium gettering. This has led to collapse-free neutral beam injection (NBI) discharges with global {tau}{sub E} {approx} 16 ms. Preliminary experiments show that stored energy and bootstrap current are sensitive to details of the magnetic configuration. 13 refs., 8 figs