Observation of ballooning instabilities with medium toroidal mode number in high temperature tokamak plasmas

Technical Report · Sat Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 1992

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/7034292· OSTI ID:7034292

Nagayama, Y; Manickam, J; Fredrickson, E D; Bell, M; Budny, R V; Cavallo, A; Janos, A C; McGuire, K M; Taylor, G; Yamada, M ^[1]; Sabbagh, S A; Mauel, M E; Navratil, G A ^[2]

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1. Princeton Univ., NJ (United States). Plasma Physics Lab.
2. Columbia Univ., New York, NY (United States)

A beta degradation event in a high {beta}p, TFTR tokamak plasma is analyzed with X-ray and electron cyclotron emission (ECE) imaging techniques. Medium-n (toroidal mode number) instabilities with ballooning characteristics are observed near and within the q =1.5 surface during a slow degradation in the plasma {beta} and precede a sudden partial collapse in the central plasma pressure. This is the first reported observation of a ballooning instability in the interior of a large, collisionless tokamak plasma.

• Research Organization: Princeton Univ., NJ (United States). Plasma Physics Lab.
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-76CH03073; FG02-89ER53297
• OSTI ID: 7034292
• Report Number(s): PPPL-2850; ON: DE92018962
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
700340* -- Plasma Waves
Oscillations
& Instabilities-- (1992-)
BALLOONING INSTABILITY
CLOSED PLASMA DEVICES
COLLISIONLESS PLASMA
ELECTRON TEMPERATURE
EQUILIBRIUM
HIGH-BETA PLASMA
INSTABILITY
MHD EQUILIBRIUM
PLASMA
PLASMA INSTABILITY
PLASMA MACROINSTABILITIES
TFTR TOKAMAK
THERMONUCLEAR DEVICES
TOKAMAK DEVICES