Periods of edge localized mode (ELM)-free H-mode with increased pedestal pressure and width were observed in the DIII-D tokamak when density fluctuations localized to the region near the separatrix were present. Injection of a powder of 45 µm diameter lithium particles increased the duration of the enhanced pedestal phases to up to 350 ms, and also increased the likelihood of a transition to the enhanced phase. Lithium injection at a level sufficient for triggering the extended enhanced phases resulted in significant lithium in the plasma core, but carbon and other higher Z impurities as well as radiated power levels were reduced. Recycling of the working deuterium gas appeared unaffected by this level of lithium injection. The ion scale, k θ ρ s ∼ 0.1-0.2, density fluctuations propagated in the electron drift direction with f ∼ 80 kHz and occurred in bursts every ∼1 ms. The fluctuation bursts correlated with plasma loss resulting in a flattening of the pressure profile in a region near the separatrix. This localized flattening allowed higher overall pedestal pressure at the peeling-ballooning stability limit and higher pressure than expected under the EPED model due to reduction of the pressure gradient below the 'ballooning critical profile'. Reduction of the ion pressure by lithium dilution may contribute to the long ELM-free periods.
a b s t r a c tUpgrades to core and divertor Thomson scattering (DTS) diagnostics at DIII-D have provided measurements of electron pressure profiles in the lower divertor from attached-to fully-detached divertor plasma conditions. Detailed, multistep sequences of discharges with increasing line-averaged density were run at several levels of P inj . Strike point sweeping allowed 2D divertor characterization using DTS optimized to measure T e down to 0.5 eV. The ionization front at the onset of detachment is found to move upwards in a controlled manner consistent with the indication that scrape-off layer parallel power flux is converted from conducted to convective heat transport. Measurements of n e , T e and p e in the divertor versus L parallel demonstrate a rapid transition from T e P 15 eV to 63 eV occurring both at the outer strike point and upstream of the X-point. These observations provide a strong benchmark for ongoing modeling of divertor detachment for existing and future tokamak devices.
It is important to develop a predictive capability for the tungsten source rate near the strike points during H-mode operation in ITER and beyond. H-mode deuterium plasma exposures were performed on W-coated graphite and molybdenum substrates in the DIII-D divertor using DiMES. The W-I 400.9 nm spectral line was monitored by fast filtered diagnostics cross calibrated via a high-resolution spectrometer to resolve inter-ELM W erosion. The effective ionization/photon (S/XB) was calibrated using a unique method developed on DIII-D based on surface analysis. Inferred S/XB values agree with an existing empirical scaling at low electron density (n e ) but diverge at higher densities, consistent with recent ADAS atomic physics modeling results. Edge modeling of the inter-ELM phase is conducted via OEDGE utilizing the new capability for charge-state resolved carbon impurity fluxes. ERO modeling is performed with the calculated main ion and impurity plasma background from OEDGE. ERO results demonstrate the importance a mixed-material surface model in the interpretation of W sourcing measurements. It is demonstrated that measured inter-ELM W erosion rates can be well explained by C→W sputtering only if a realistic mixed material model is incorporated.
The charge exchange recombination spectroscopy diagnostic on the DIII-D tokamak has been upgraded with the addition of more high radial resolution view chords near the edge of the plasma (r/a > 0.8). The additional views are diagnosed with the same number of spectrometers by placing fiber optics side-by-side at the spectrometer entrance with a precise separation that avoids wavelength shifted crosstalk without the use of bandpass filters. The new views improve measurement of edge impurity parameters in steep gradient, H-mode plasmas with many different shapes. The number of edge view chords with 8 mm radial separation has increased from 16 to 38. New fused silica fibers have improved light throughput and clarify the observation of non-Gaussian spectra that suggest the ion distribution function can be non-Maxwellian in low collisionality plasmas.
Electron cyclotron heated plasmas in the Helically Symmetric Experiment (HSX) feature strongly peaked electron temperature profiles; central temperatures are 2.5 keV with 100 kW injected power. These measurements, coupled with neoclassical predictions of large “electron root” radial electric fields with strong radial shear, are evidence of a neoclassically driven thermal transport barrier. Neoclassical transport quantities are calculated using the PENTA code [D. A. Spong, Phys. Plasmas 12, 056114 (2005)], in which momentum is conserved and parallel flow is included. Unlike a conventional stellarator, which exhibits strong flow damping in all directions on a flux surface, quasisymmetric stellarators are free to rotate in the direction of symmetry, and the effect of momentum conservation in neoclassical calculations may therefore be significant. Momentum conservation is shown to modify the neoclassical ion flux and ambipolar ion root radial electric fields in the quasisymmetric configuration. The effect is much smaller in a HSX configuration where the symmetry is spoiled. In addition to neoclassical transport, a model of trapped electron mode turbulence is used to calculate the turbulent-driven electron thermal diffusivity. Turbulent transport quenching due to the neoclassically predicted radial electric field profile is needed in predictive transport simulations to reproduce the peaking of the measured electron temperature profile [Guttenfelder et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 215002 (2008)].
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