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Title: Experimental test of the neoclassical theory of impurity poloidal rotation in tokamaks

Journal Article · · Physics of Plasmas
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2180728· OSTI ID:20783141
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  1. Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08543 (United States)

Despite the importance of rotation in fusion plasmas, our present understanding of momentum transport is inadequate. The lack of understanding is in part related to the difficulty of performing accurate rotation measurements, especially for poloidal rotation. Recently, measurements of poloidal rotation for impurity ions (Z>1) have been obtained in the core of DIII-D [J. L. Luxon, Nucl. Fusion 42, 6114 (2002)] plasmas using charge exchange recombination spectroscopy. The inferred poloidal rotation is based on careful consideration of the effective energy-dependent cross section and of the gyromotion of the ions. The rotation measurements are found to be consistent with the radial electric field determined independently from multiple impurity species as well as from motional Stark effect spectroscopic measurements. The poloidal rotation measurements have been compared with predictions based on the neoclassical theory of poloidal rotation from the code NCLASS [W. A. Houlberg et al., Phys. Plasmas 4, 3230 (1997)]. The comparison shows that the neoclassically predicted poloidal rotation is in general significantly smaller than the actual measurements.

OSTI ID:
20783141
Journal Information:
Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 13, Issue 5; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.2180728; (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English