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Title: Magnetic control of magnetohydrodynamic instabilities in tokamaks

Journal Article · · Physics of Plasmas
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4902126· OSTI ID:1354827
 [1]
  1. General Atomics, San Diego, CA (United States)

Externally applied, non-axisymmetric magnetic fields form the basis of several relatively simple and direct methods to control magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) instabilities in a tokamak, and most present and planned tokamaks now include a set of non-axisymmetric control coils for application of fields with low toroidal mode numbers. Non-axisymmetric applied fields are routinely used to compensate small asymmetries ( δB/B ~ 10-3 to 10-4) of the nominally axisymmetric field, which otherwise can lead to instabilities through braking of plasma rotation and through direct stimulus of tearing modes or kink modes. This compensation may be feedback-controlled, based on the magnetic response of the plasma to the external fields. Non-axisymmetric fields are used for direct magnetic stabilization of the resistive wall mode — a kink instability with a growth rate slow enough that feedback control is practical. Saturated magnetic islands are also manipulated directly with non-axisymmetric fields, in order to unlock them from the wall and spin them to aid stabilization, or position them for suppression by localized current drive. Several recent scientific advances form the foundation of these developments in the control of instabilities. Most fundamental is the understanding that stable kink modes play a crucial role in the coupling of non-axisymmetric fields to the plasma, determining which field configurations couple most strongly, how the coupling depends on plasma conditions, and whether external asymmetries are amplified by the plasma. A major advance for the physics of high-beta plasmas ( β = plasma pressure/magnetic field pressure) has been the understanding that drift-kinetic resonances can stabilize the resistive wall mode at pressures well above the ideal-MHD stability limit, but also that such discharges can be very sensitive to external asymmetries. The common physics of stable kink modes has brought significant unification to the topics of static error fields at low beta and resistive wall modes at high beta. Furthermore, these and other scientific advances, and their application to control of MHD instabilities, will be reviewed with emphasis on the most recent results and their applicability to ITER.

Research Organization:
General Atomics, San Diego, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
Grant/Contract Number:
FC02-04ER54698
OSTI ID:
1354827
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1228456
Journal Information:
Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 22, Issue 2; ISSN 1070-664X
Publisher:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 36 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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$\mathscr{H}_2$ optimal control techniques for resistive wall mode feedback in tokamaks journal February 2018
Magnetic polarization measurements of the multi-modal plasma response to 3D fields in the EAST tokamak journal May 2018
Optimizing multi-modal, non-axisymmetric plasma response metrics with additional coil rows on DIII-D journal July 2019

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