New profile measurements have allowed the electron thermal diffusivity profile to be estimated from power balance in the Madison Symmetric Torus where magnetic islands overlap and field lines are stochastic. The measurements show that (1) the electron energy transport is conductive not convective, (2) the measured thermal diffusivities are in good agreement with numerical simulations of stochastic transport, and (3) transport is greatly reduced near the reversal surface where magnetic diffusion is small.

Energy confinement comparable with tokamak quality is achieved in the Madison Symmetric Torus (MST) reversed field pinch (RFP) at a high beta and low toroidal magnetic field. Magnetic fluctuations normally present in the RFP are reduced via parallel current drive in the outer region of the plasma. In response, the electron temperature nearly triples and beta doubles. The confinement time increases tenfold (to ∼10 ms), which is comparable with Land H-mode scaling values for a tokamak with the same plasma current, density, heating power, size and shape. Runaway electron confinement is evidenced by a 100-fold increase in hard x-ray bremsstrahlung. Fokker-Planck modelling of the x-ray energy spectrum reveals that the high energy electron diffusion is independent of the parallel velocity, uncharacteristic of magnetic transport and more like that for electrostatic turbulence. The high core electron temperature correlates strongly with a broadband reduction of resonant modes at mid-radius where the stochasticity is normally most intense. To extend profile control and add auxiliary heating, rf current drive and neutral beam heating are in development. Low power lower-hybrid and electron Bernstein wave injection experiments are underway. Dc current sustainment via ac helicity injection (sinusoidal inductive loop voltages) is also being tested. Low power neutral beam injection shows that fast ions are well-confined, even in the presence of relatively large magnetic fluctuations.

Regression analysis on the multi-tokamak database has been performed, but it appears that the database is not conditioned sufficiently well to yield a new scaling for this type of plasma.Coordinated experiments on size scaling using the dimensionless parameter scaling approach find a weaker scaling with normalized gyroradius than the standard H-mode scaling. Preliminary studies on scaling with collision frequency show a favorable scaling stronger than the standard H-mode scaling. Coordinated modeling activity has resulted in successful benchmarking of modeling codes in the ITER regime. Validation of transport models using these codes on present-day expeirments is in progress, but no single model has been shown to capture the variations seen in the experiments. However, projection to ITER using these models is in general agreement with the favorable projections found with the empirical scalings.

Fast ions are observed to be very well confined in the Madison Symmetric Torus reversed field pinch despite the presence of stochastic magnetic field. The fast-ion energy loss is consistent with the classical slowing down rate, and their confinement time is longer than expected by stochastic estimates. Fast-ion confinement is measured from the decay of d-d neutrons following a short pulse of a 20 keV atomic deuterium beam. Ion confinement agrees with computation of particle trajectories in the stochastic magnetic field, and is understood through consideration of ion guiding center islands.

The Sustained Spheromak Physics Experiment (SSPX) [E.B. Hooper, et. al., Nuclear Fusion, Vol. 39,No. 7] explores the physics of efficient magnetic field buildup and energy confinement,

The range in density and collisionality for which resonant magnetic perturbations (RMPs) are effective in suppressing edge-localized modes (ELMs) in the presence of a radiating divertor was found to be modest for representative H-mode plasmas in DIII-D. When deuterium and argon gas injection rates were increased during RMP, both the electron collisionality in the pedestal and the maximum electron pressure gradient (∇P e,MAX) in the pedestal also increased. As ∇P e,MAX approached values consistent with the peeling–ballooning stability limit, as determined by edge stability analysis, ELMing activity re-emerged. For cases with the same injected neutral beam power, argon accumulation in the main plasma was greater in the RMP ELM-suppressed cases than in comparable non-RMP ELMing H-mode cases. Reductions in the core concentration of injected argon were observed for both RMP and non-RMP H-mode cases when their respective deuterium injection rates were increased. Although complete ELM suppression in RMP radiating divertor plasmas in DIII-D was only accessible over a limited range in pedestal density and collisionality, significant ELM mitigation with heat flux reduction was possible over a wider range. Comparing RMP radiating divertor discharges after the re-appearance of ELMing activity during gas puffing with a standard ELMing plasma for cases with the same pedestal density reveals that the RMP discharges have (1) lower average electron temperature at the midplane separatrix, implying lower average electron temperature at the divertor target, (2) lower time-averaged peak heat flux and (3) lower transient peak heat flux from ELMs even at the same pedestal collisionality.

Spatially resolved spectroscopic measurements of He-I line emission are used to study the causes of emission profile broadening radially across the cylinder of a weakly ionized helium plasma. The plasma consists of an ionizing core (r < 2 cm) surrounded by a recombining edge (r > 2 cm) plasma. The brightness profiles of low-n EUV He-I resonance lines are shown to be strongly radially broadened due to opacity. The brightness profiles of high-n visible lines are also found to be strongly radially broadened, but dominantly due to edge recombination. Visible low-n lines are less strongly radially broadened, apparently by a combination of both recombination and EUV opacity. The low-n visible He-I line ratio method with central opacity correction is found to calculate central electron density and temperature well, with poor agreement at the edge, as expected for recombining plasma. In the recombining edge, high-n Boltzmann analysis is found to accurately measure the cold (T e < 0.2 eV) edge temperature. Near the core, however, high-n Boltzmann analysis can be complicated by electron-impact excitation, giving incorrect (T e % 0.1 eV) apparent temperatures. Probe measurements were not able to capture the cold edge temperature accurately, probably due to large potential fluctuations, even when using fast triple probe measurements. Fast spectroscopic measurements show that this discrepancy is not explained by recombining plasma alternating with ionizing plasma in the edge region. V C 2013 AIP Publishing LLC. [http://dx.

The Sustained Spheromak Physics Experiment (SSPX) was a high-temperature (T e up to 0.5 keV) spheromak formed by coaxial helicity injection (CHI) and with plasma duration of a few milliseconds following the high-current formation stage. Clean walls and low impurity operation were obtained by a combination of baking, discharge cleaning and titanium deposition on the walls, allowing the generation of high-quality plasmas. Resistive-magnetohydrodynamic simulations, benchmarked to the experiment, were used to elucidate the physics. The detailed characteristics of the n φ = 1 toroidal mode associated with CHI were determined as was the physics of the nonlinear current drive and magnetic reconnection that formed and sustained the spheromak. If the helicity injection rate was reduced following formation the plasma became relatively quiescent and magnetic surfaces formed. The measured thermal diffusivity in the core was as low as ∼1 m 2 s −1 . However, reconnection events during buildup or sustainment of the plasma current by CHI were found to open magnetic surfaces throughout the plasma allowing rapid energy loss to the walls. As a result, experiments and simulations in SSPX found no path to simultaneous sustainment by CHI and good energy confinement. Additional physics results are also presented in this review.