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.

Experiments on HL-2A, DIII-D and EAST show that turbulence just inside the last closed flux surface (LCFS) acts to reinforce existing sheared ExB flows in this region. This flow drive gets stronger as heating power is increased in L-mode, and leads to the development of a strong oscillating shear flow which can transition into the H-mode regime when the rate of energy transfer from the turbulence to the shear flow exceeds a threshold. These effects become compressed in time during an L-H transition, but the key role of turbulent flow drive during the transition is still observed. The results compare favorably with a reduced predator-prey type model.

Abstract. This paper describes joint ITPA studies of the I-mode regime, which features an edge thermal barrier together with L-mode-like particle and impurity transport and no Edge Issues for extrapolation to ITER and other future fusion devices are discussed.

Comprehensive 2D turbulence and eddy flow velocity measurements on DIII-D demonstrate a rapidly increasing turbulence-driven shear flow that develops ∼100  μs prior to the low-confinement (L mode) to high-confinement (H mode) transition and appears to trigger it. These changes are localized to a narrow layer 1-2 cm inside the magnetic boundary. Increasing heating power increases the Reynolds stress, the energy transfer from turbulence to the poloidal flow, and the edge flow shearing rate that then exceeds the decorrelation rate, suppressing turbulence and triggering the transition.

Robust validation of predictive turbulent transport models requires quantitative comparisons to experimental measurements at multiple levels, over a range of physically relevant conditions. Toward this end, a series of carefully designed validation experiments has been performed on the DIII-D tokamak [J. L. Luxon, Nucl. Fusion 42, 614 (2002)] to obtain comprehensive multifield, multipoint, multiwavenumber fluctuation measurements and their scalings with key dimensionless parameters. The results of two representative validation studies are presented: an elongation scaling study performed in beam heated L-mode discharges and an electron heating power scan performed in quiescent H-mode (QH-mode) discharges. A 50% increase in the elongation j is observed to lead to a $50% increase in energy confinement time s e and accompanying decrease in fluctuation levels, qualitatively consistent with a priori theoretical predictions and nonlinear GYRO [J. Candy and R. E. Waltz, J. Comput. Phys. 186, 545 (2003)] simulations. However, these simulations exhibit clear quantitative differences from experiment in the predicted magnitudes and trends with radius of turbulent fluxes and fluctuation levels which cannot be fully accounted for by uncertainties due to transport stiffness. In the QH-mode study, local nonlinear GYRO simulations that neglect fast ion effects show a similar proportional response to the applied electron cyclotron heating as the experiment, but overpredict the magnitudes of transport and fluctuation levels by a factor of 10 or more. Possible sources of this overprediction, namely nonlocal effects and self-consistent fast beam ions, are identified and discussed. V

In the quiescent H-mode (QH-mode) regime, edge harmonic oscillations (EHO) play an important role in avoiding transient edge localized mode (ELM) power fluxes by providing benign and continuous edge particle transport. A detailed theoretical, experimental and modeling comparison has been made of low-n (n≤5) EHO in DIII-D QH-mode plasmas. The calculated linear eigenmode structure from the extended MHD code M3D-C1 matches closely the coherent EHO properties from external magnetics data and internal measurements using the ECE, BES, ECE-Imaging and microwave imaging reflectometer (MIR) diagnostics, as well as the kink/peeling mode properties found by the ideal MHD code ELITE. Numerical investigations indicate that the low-n EHO-like solutions from M3D-C1 are destabilized by the rotation and/or rotational shear while high-n modes are stabilized. This effect is independent of the rotation direction, suggesting that EHO can be destabilized in principle with rotation in either direction. The modeling results are consistent with observations of the EHO, support the proposed theory of the EHO as a low-n kink/peeling mode destabilized by edge ExB rotational shear, and improve our understanding and confidence in creating and sustaining QHmode in present and future devices.

Recent experiments in DIII-D [J. L. Luxon et al., in Plasma Physics and Controlled Nuclear Fusion Research 1996 (International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, 1987), Vol. I, p. 159] have led to the discovery of a means of modifying edge turbulence to achieve stationary, high confinement operation without Edge Localized Mode (ELM) instabilities and with no net external torque input. Eliminating the ELM-induced heat bursts and controlling plasma stability at low rotation represent two of the great challenges for fusion energy. By exploiting edge turbulence in a novel manner, we achieved excellent tokamak performance, well above the H98y2 international tokamak energy confinement scaling (H98y2 = 1.25), thus meeting an additional confinement challenge that is usually difficult at low torque. The new regime is triggered in double null plasmas by ramping the injected torque to zero and then maintaining it there. This lowers E × B rotation shear in the plasma edge, allowing low-k, broadband, electromagnetic turbulence to increase. In the H-mode edge, a narrow transport barrier usually grows until MHD instability (a peeling ballooning mode) leads to the ELM heat burst. However, the increased turbulence reduces the pressure gradient, allowing the development of a broader and thus higher transport barrier. A 60% increase in pedestal pressure and 40% increase in energy confinement result. An increase in the E × B shearing rate inside of the edge pedestal is a key factor in the confinement increase. Strong double-null plasma shaping raises the threshold for the ELM instability, allowing the plasma to reach a transport-limited state near but below the explosive ELM stability boundary. The resulting plasmas have burning-plasma-relevant βN = 1.6–1.8 and run without the need for extra torque from 3D magnetic fields. To date, stationary conditions have been produced for 2 s or 12 energy confinement times, limited only by external hardware constraints. Stationary operation with improved pedestal conditions is highly significant for future burning plasma devices, since operation without ELMs at low rotation and good confinement is key for fusion energy production.

Long-wavelength turbulence increases dramatically in the outer regions of DIII-D plasmas with the application of resonant magnetic field perturbations (RMPs) that suppress edge-localized modes (ELMs). Correspondingly, transport increases and global energy confinement decreases in these low-collisionality RMP-ELM suppressed discharges. The core and pedestal density are sharply reduced, while ion and electron temperatures may change only slightly. Low wavenumber density turbulence (k⊥ρi < 1) in the range of 60–300 kHz, measured with beam emission spectroscopy, is modified and generally increases throughout the outer region (0.6 < ρ < 1.0) of the plasma in response to RMPs over a range of q95 values; ELM suppression, in contrast, occurs for a narrower range in q95. Radial magnetic field modulation experiments indicate that these turbulence modifications occur on a time scale of a few milliseconds or less near ρ = 0.85–0.95, significantly faster than transport time-scales and faster than the local pressure gradients and shearing rates evolve at these locations. As the internal coil current is modulated in a square-wave fashion from 3.2 to 4.2 kA, the turbulence magnitude varies in phase by 30% or more, while local density changes by only a few per cent. This dynamical behaviour suggests that the turbulence is directly affected by the RMP, which may partially or largely explain the resulting increased transport and stabilization of the pedestal against peeling–ballooning instabilities that are thought to drive ELMs.