At ASDEX upgrade (AUG) a new framework for the evaluation of impurity densities based on measurements from charge exchange recombination spectroscopy (CXRS) diagnostics has been developed. The charge exchange impurity concentration analysis code, or CHICA, can perform these calculations for all of the beam-based CXRS diagnostics at AUG and is equipped with the atomic data for all of the regularly measured charge exchange spectral lines (He, Li, B, C, N, O, and Ne). CHICA includes four different methods for the evaluation of the neutral density populations, which feature different implementations and contain varying levels of sophistication. These methods have been thoroughly benchmarked against one another, enabling the important processes for the evaluation of neutral densities to be identified as well as the neutral populations that are most critical to the accurate interpretation of the measured CXRS intensities. For the AUG neutral beams, charge exchange with the ground state of the first energy component is typically the dominant contribution to the measured CXRS intensities, but emission from reactions with the n=2 beam halo population can contribute up to 35% to the total signal and must be included in the analysis. Neglect of this population leads to incorrect magnitudes and incorrect profile shapes of the calculated impurity density profiles. The edge lines of sight (LOS) of the core CXRS diagnostics at AUG intersect the edge pedestal inside of the neutral beam volume. Therefore, the impurity density is not constant along the LOS, complicating the interpretation of the measured intensities. Within CHICA a forward model for the edge impurity densities has been implemented, enabling the reconstruction of accurate edge profiles.

Extension of the core CXRS in AUGA new core charge exchange recombination spectroscopy (CXRS) diagnostic has been installed in the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak that is capable of measuring the impurity ion temperature, toroidal rotation, and density on both the low field side (LFS) and high field side (HFS) of the plasma. The new system features 48 lines-of-sight (LOS) with a radial resolution that varies from ±2cm on the LFS down to ±0.75cm on the HFS and has sufficient signal to run routinely at 10ms and for special circumstances down to 2.5ms integration time. The LFS-HFS ion temperature profiles provide an additional constraint on the magnetic equilibrium reconstruction and the toroidal rotation frequency profiles are of sufficiently high quality that information on the poloidal velocity can be extracted from the LFS-HFS asymmetry. The diagnostic LOS are coupled to two flexible-wavelength spectrometers such that complete LFS-HFS profiles from two separate impurities can be imaged simultaneously, albeit with reduced radial coverage. More frequently, the systems measure the same impurity providing very detailed information on the chosen species. Care has been taken to calibrate the systems as accurately as possible and to include in the data analysis any effects that could lead to spurious temperatures or rotations.

The ASDEX Upgrade (AUG) programme, jointly run with the EUROfusion MST1 task force, continues to significantly enhance the physics base of ITER and DEMO. Here, the full tungsten wall is a key asset for extrapolating to future devices. The high overall heating power, flexible heating mix and comprehensive diagnostic set allows studies ranging from mimicking the scrape-off-layer and divertor conditions of ITER and DEMO at high density to fully non-inductive operation (q 95  =  5.5, ) at low density. Higher installed electron cyclotron resonance heating power   6 MW, new diagnostics and improved analysis techniques have further enhanced the capabilities of AUG. Stable high-density H-modes with MW m−1 with fully detached strike-points have been demonstrated. The ballooning instability close to the separatrix has been identified as a potential cause leading to the H-mode density limit and is also found to play an important role for the access to small edge-localized modes (ELMs). Density limit disruptions have been successfully avoided using a path-oriented approach to disruption handling and progress has been made in understanding the dissipation and avoidance of runaway electron beams. ELM suppression with resonant magnetic perturbations is now routinely achieved reaching transiently . This gives new insight into the field penetration physics, in particular with respect to plasma flows. Modelling agrees well with plasma response measurements and a helically localised ballooning structure observed prior to the ELM is evidence for the changed edge stability due to the magnetic perturbations. The impact of 3D perturbations on heat load patterns and fast-ion losses have been further elaborated. Progress has also been made in understanding the ELM cycle itself. Here, new fast measurements of and E r allow for inter ELM transport analysis confirming that E r is dominated by the diamagnetic term even for fast timescales. New analysis techniques allow detailed comparison of the ELM crash and are in good agreement with nonlinear MHD modelling. The observation of accelerated ions during the ELM crash can be seen as evidence for the reconnection during the ELM. As type-I ELMs (even mitigated) are likely not a viable operational regime in DEMO studies of ‘natural’ no ELM regimes have been extended. Stable I-modes up to have been characterised using -feedback. Core physics has been advanced by more detailed characterisation of the turbulence with new measurements such as the eddy tilt angle—measured for the first time—or the cross-phase angle of and fluctuations. These new data put strong constraints on gyro-kinetic turbulence modelling. In addition, carefully executed studies in different main species (H, D and He) and with different heating mixes highlight the importance of the collisional energy exchange for interpreting energy confinement. A new regime with a hollow profile now gives access to regimes mimicking aspects of burning plasma conditions and lead to nonlinear interactions of energetic particle modes despite the sub-Alfvénic beam energy. This will help to validate the fast-ion codes for predicting ITER and DEMO.