skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Evolution of ELMs, pedestal profiles and fluctuations in the inter-ELM period in NBI- and ECH-dominated discharges in DIII-D

Journal Article · · Nuclear Fusion

In DIII-D, it has been observed that ELM frequency decreases by 40% and ELM spacing becomes more regular in time when heating is changed from pure neutral beam injection (NBI) to predominantly electron cyclotron heating (ECH) in ITER Similar Shape plasmas. In comparison with pure the NBI discharges, pedestal fluctuations in magnetics and density increase in the ECH dominated discharges. Recovery of the pedestal profiles like electron density (ne), temperature (Te) and pressure (pe) shows marked differences for these two heating schemes. Average profiles in the last 30% of the ELM cycle shows higher Te, lower ne, and similar pe at the pedestal top for the ECH discharge when compared to the NBI discharge. Here, the gradient of Te (∇Te) is also steeper at the pedestal in the ECH discharge. Magnetic fluctuations show 3 distinct modes in 13–116 kHz in the ECH discharges only. ne fluctuations show two modes evolving in the inter-ELM period of the ECH discharge, a low frequency (400 kHz) quasi-coherent mode (LFQC) and high frequency (~2 MHz) broadband (HFB) fluctuations. Evolution of these modes has marked correspondence with the inter-ELM ∇Te recovery. A sharp decrease in the Dα baseline is observed whenever the LFQC weakens and the HFB grows, prior to each large ELM. Transport coefficients obtained from TRANSP shows that MTM and/or TEM are plausible candidates for the observed fluctuations. Linear gyrofluid simulation (TGLF) corroborates this characterization. TGLF shows that the linear growth rate of the most dominant mode peaks at ion-scale (kθρs ~ 0.4) at the pedestal steep gradient and the frequency is in the electron diamagnetic direction. Here, it is proposed that increased fluctuations in the ECH dominated case, due to increased ∇Te, caused an increase in fluctuation-driven transport in the pedestal and slowed the pedestal recovery between ELMs, leading to a reduction in the ELM frequency.

Research Organization:
College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA (United States); Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States); General Atomics, San Diego, CA (United States); Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0019302; FG02-08ER54984; AC02-09CH11466; FC02-04ER54698
OSTI ID:
1774491
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1766952; OSTI ID: 1820176
Journal Information:
Nuclear Fusion, Vol. 61, Issue 5; ISSN 0029-5515
Publisher:
IOP ScienceCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (55)

Performance and data analysis aspects of the new DIII-D monostatic profile reflectometer system journal November 2014
Toroidal mode number determination of ELM associated phenomena on ASDEX Upgrade journal November 2016
Initial results of the high resolution edge Thomson scattering upgrade at DIII-D journal October 2012
Access to pedestal pressure relevant to burning plasmas on the high magnetic field tokamak Alcator C-Mod journal September 2018
ELM behaviour and linear MHD stability of edge ECRH heated ASDEX Upgrade plasmas journal April 2016
A multichannel, frequency-modulated, tunable Doppler backscattering and reflectometry system journal August 2009
The radial electric field as a measure for field penetration of resonant magnetic perturbations journal June 2014
Dynamical evolution of pedestal parameters in ELMy H-mode in the National Spherical Torus Experiment journal September 2011
Access and sustainment of naturally ELM-free and small-ELM regimes journal September 2018
A review of ELMs in divertor tokamaks journal February 1997
A comparison of H-mode pedestal characteristics in MAST as a function of magnetic configuration and ELM type journal May 2009
Toroidal and slab ETG instability dominance in the linear spectrum of JET-ILW pedestals journal October 2020
Orchestrating TRANSP Simulations for Interpretative and Predictive Tokamak Modeling with OMFIT journal February 2018
Direct gyrokinetic comparison of pedestal transport in JET with carbon and ITER-like walls journal July 2019
Correlations between quasi-coherent fluctuations and the pedestal evolution during the inter-edge localized modes phase on DIII-Da) journal May 2015
Effects of density gradients and fluctuations at the plasma edge on ECEI measurements at ASDEX Upgrade journal February 2018
Magnetic diagnostic system of the DIII-D tokamak journal February 2006
Studies of the pedestal structure and inter-ELM pedestal evolution in JET with the ITER-like wall journal August 2017
Experimental study of quasi-coherent mode using EAST tangential CO 2 laser collective scattering diagnostic in far-forward mode journal January 2019
Stationary QH-mode plasmas with high and wide pedestal at low rotation on DIII-D journal September 2016
Pedestal confinement and stability in JET-ILW ELMy H-modes journal September 2015
High frequency magnetic fluctuations correlated with the inter-ELM pedestal evolution in ASDEX Upgrade journal May 2016
A novel, multichannel, comb-frequency Doppler backscatter system journal October 2010
Pedestal structure and stability in H-mode and I-mode: a comparative study on Alcator C-Mod journal March 2013
Recent progress in understanding the processes underlying the triggering of and energy loss associated with type I ELMs journal November 2014
Study of the parametric dependence of linear and nonlinear microtearing modes in conventional tokamak discharges journal January 2018
Washboard modes as ELM-related events in JET journal November 2003
Discriminating the trapped electron modes contribution in density fluctuation spectra journal August 2015
Advances towards QH-mode viability for ELM-stable operation in ITER journal July 2011
Plasma shaping and its impact on the pedestal of ASDEX Upgrade: edge stability and inter-ELM dynamics at varied triangularity journal February 2018
Identification of trapped electron modes in frequency fluctuation spectra journal November 2015
Edge stability of stationary ELM-suppressed regimes on DIII-D journal July 2008
Improved understanding of physics processes in pedestal structure, leading to improved predictive capability for ITER journal August 2013
Role of the pedestal position on the pedestal performance in AUG, JET-ILW and TCV and implications for ITER journal June 2019
Observation of quasi-coherent edge fluctuations in Ohmic plasmas on National Spherical Torus Experiment journal April 2016
Velocimetry analysis of type-I edge localized mode precursors in ASDEX Upgrade journal February 2014
Particle transport in low-collisionality H-mode plasmas on DIII-D journal September 2015
A first-principles predictive model of the pedestal height and width: development, testing and ITER optimization with the EPED model journal August 2011
Modifications in turbulence and edge electric fields at the L–H transition in the DIII‐D tokamak journal August 1991
Pedestal stability comparison and ITER pedestal prediction journal July 2009
Temporal evolution of H-mode pedestal in DIII-D journal March 2009
Edge-localized mode control by electron cyclotron waves in a tokamak plasma journal March 2012
Gyrokinetic analysis and simulation of pedestals to identify the culprits for energy losses using ‘fingerprints’ journal July 2019
A new approach to detect coherent modes using microwave reflectometry journal July 2012
Global and pedestal confinement in JET with a Be/W metallic wall journal March 2014
High fusion performance in Super H-mode experiments on Alcator C-Mod and DIII-D journal June 2019
A design retrospective of the DIII-D tokamak journal May 2002
A gyrokinetic perspective on the JET-ILW pedestal journal January 2017
Numerical studies of edge localized instabilities in tokamaks journal April 2002
Inter-ELM behaviour of the electron density and temperature pedestal in ASDEX Upgrade journal September 2010
Understanding ECH density pump-out in DIII-D H-mode plasmas journal August 2017
Microtearing modes in spherical and conventional tokamaks journal May 2013
Effect of magnetic shear on edge turbulence in SOL-like open field line configuration in QUEST journal June 2018
A theory-based transport model with comprehensive physics journal May 2007
The effect of a metal wall on confinement in JET and ASDEX Upgrade journal November 2013

Similar Records

DIII-D Quiescent Double Barrier Regime Experiments and Modeling
Conference · Mon Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2002 · OSTI ID:1774491

Overview of physics results from MAST
Journal Article · Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2009 · Nuclear Fusion · OSTI ID:1774491

H-mode characterisation for dominant ECRH and comparison to dominant NBI or ICRF heating at ASDEX Upgrade
Journal Article · Wed Feb 12 00:00:00 EST 2014 · AIP Conference Proceedings · OSTI ID:1774491