Large sub-millisecond heat pulses due to Type-I edge localized modes (ELMs) have been eliminated reproducibly in DIII-D for periods approaching nine energy confinement times (τ E ) with small dc currents driven in a simple magnetic perturbation coil. The current required to eliminate all but a few isolated Type-I ELM impulses during a coil pulse is less than 0.4% of plasma current. Based on magnetic field line modelling, the perturbation fields resonate with plasma flux surfaces across most of the pedestal region (0.9 ψ N 1.0) when q 95 = 3.7 ± 0.2, creating small remnant magnetic islands surrounded by weakly stochastic field lines. The stored energy, β N , H-mode quality factor and global energy confinement time are unaltered by the magnetic perturbation. Although some isolated ELMs occur during the coil pulse, long periods free of large Type-I ELMs ( t > 4-6 τ E ) have been reproduced numerous times, on multiple experimental run days in high and intermediate triangularity plasmas, including cases matching the baseline ITER scenario 2 flux surface shape. In low triangularity, lower single null plasmas, with collisionalities near that expected in ITER, Type-I ELMs are replaced by small amplitude, high frequency Type-II-like ELMs and are often accompanied by one or more ELM-free periods approaching 1-2 τ E . Large Type-I ELM impulses represent a severe constraint on the survivability of the divertor target plates in future burning plasma devices. Results presented in this paper demonstrate that non-axisymmetric edge magnetic perturbations provide a very attractive development path for active ELM control in future tokamaks such as ITER.

Abstract. At the TEXTOR tokamak an external resonant magnetic perturbation is applied with the Dynamic Ergodic Divertor to control the edge transport properties. The approaches to analyze the impact of such kind of edge stochastisation on transport apply mostly a shell like picture which includes a dependence of transport from magnetic field topology in the radial direction only. In this paper multiple experimental evidence is presented that contrary to these approaches the perturbation applied forms a poloidally heterogenous edge layer in which the transport characteristics are determined by the poloidally alternating field line behavior. A thorough analysis of density and temperature profiles and their gradients for base mode spectra with poloidal/toroidal mode numbers of m/n = 12/4 and m/n = 6/2 is worked out in comparison to the modeled magnetic field topology and results from three dimensional transport modeling with EMC3/EIRENE. Hereby two poloidally adjacent transport domains are identified for the first time in such detail. A domain representing a helical scrape off layer (SOL) is formed by field lines with short connection and therefore prevailing parallel transport to the wall elements. Here, the field lines are clustered into extended flux tubes embedded into a long connection length ergodic domain with diffusive transport characteristics and enhanced radial transport.

Asymptotical and mapping methods to study the structure of magnetic field perturbations and magnetic field line dynamics in a tokamak ergodic divertor in toroidal geometry are developed. The investigation is applied to the Dynamic Ergodic Divertor under construction for the Torus Experiment for the Technology Oriented Research (TEXTOR-94) Tokamak at Jülich [Fusion Eng. Design 37, 337 (1997)]. An ideal coil configuration designed to create resonant magnetic perturbations at the plasma edge is considered. In cylindrical geometry, the analytical expressions for the vacuum magnetic field perturbations of such a coil system are derived, and its properties are studied. Corrections to the magnetic field due to the toroidicity are presented. The asymptotical analysis of transformation of magnetic perturbation into the Hamiltonian perturbation in toroidal geometry is carried out, and the asymptotic formulas for the spectrum of the Hamiltonian perturbations are found. A new method of integration of Hamiltonian equations is developed. It is based on a canonical transformation of variables that replaces the dynamics of a continuous Hamiltonian system by a symplectic mapping. The form of the mapping is established in the first order of perturbation theory. It is shown that the mapping well reproduces Poincaré sections of field lines, as well as their statistical properties in an ergodic zone obtained by the numerical integration of field line equations. The mapping is applied to study, in particular, the formation of a stochastic layer and the statistical properties of field lines at the plasma edge.

During runaway discharges in TEXTOR, intense infrared (IR) radiation is-emitted in the electron flow direction. This can only be explained by synchrotron radiation of fast electrons. The observed spectral dependence is consistent with electrons of 25-30 MeV energy; the intensity corresponds to about 1016 electrons or to an electrical current of 40 kA. From the spatial structure of the observed IR pattern, new insight into the spatial distribution of the runaway electrons and their perpendicular momentum can be gained. The runaway electrons populate a torus with a diameter of 0.5-0.6 m, which is slightly larger than the plasma radius; the perpendicular momentum is determined from the vertical extent of the IR pattern and amounts to about 5 m0c. The transformation rate of electrons to runaways can be estimated from the time delay of the IR signal as 2 × 10−4 s−1; this agrees with theoretical expectations derived from the ratio of the electrical field strength to the critical field strength. In TEXTOR, runaways are confined up to energies of 50 MeV, which is just below the limit where a phase should exist in which runaways radiate as much energy as they gain per turn.

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The Dynamic Ergodic Divertor (DED) is under construction as a novel tool for TEXTOR-94 to control transport at the plasma edge and possibly also plasma rotation. The DED has been laid out for the plasma reference conditions rres(q = 3) and βpol = 1. The operational space of DED is analysed here. It has been shown that a sufficient edge ergodization can be reached for all relevant βpol values (0 ⩽ βpol ⩽ 2). By shifting the resonance layer close to the edge, the degree of ergodization can be substantially increased (by about a factor of 4). The power supplies allow a superposition of the base n = 4 mode with the n = 2 mode at arbitrary amplitude ratios, providing a partial decoupling of the perturbation amplitude and its penetration; by an admixture of 20% of the n = 2 mode, the diffusion coefficient for the magnetic field lines is significantly increased. Analyses of the operational space are carried out by using both novel asymptotic and mapping methods.

The effect of a resonant helical magnetic field on plasma rotation is investigated numerically based on the two fluid equations. It is found that, depending on the frequency and the direction of the original plasma rotation, a static helical field of a small amplitude can either increase or decrease the rotation speed. With increasing the field amplitude, the plasma rotation frequency approaches the electron diamagnetic drift frequency but rotates in the ion drift direction. These