Starting from a standard single null X-point configuration, a second order null divertor (snowflake (SF)) has been successfully created on the Tokamak à Configuration Variable (TCV) tokamak. The magnetic properties of this innovative configuration have been analysed and compared with a standard Xpoint configuration. For the SF divertor, the connection length and the flux expansion close to the separatrix exceed those of the standard X-point by more than a factor of 2. The magnetic shear in the plasma edge is also larger for the SF configuration.

This paper is aimed to contribute to the scientific discussions that have been triggered by the experimental observation of a quadratic relation between the kurtosis and skewness of turbulent fluctuations present in fusion plasmas and other nonlinear physical systems. In this paper we offer a general statistical model which attributes the observed K = aS 2 + b relation to the varying intermittency of the experimental signals. The model is a two random variable model constructed to catch the essential intermittent feature of the real signal. One of the variables is the amplitude of the underlying intermittent event (e.g. turbulent structure) while the other is connected to the intermittency level of the system. This simple model can attribute physical meaning to the a and b coefficients, as they characterize the spatio-temporal statistics of intermittent events. By constructing a particle-conserving Gaussian model for the underlying coherent structures the experimentally measured a and b coefficients could be adequately reproduced.

Integrating the plasma core performance with an edge and scrape-off layer (SOL) that leads to tolerable heat and particle loads on the wall is a major challenge. The new European medium size tokamak task force (EU-MST) coordinates research on ASDEX Upgrade (AUG), MAST and TCV. This multi-machine approach within EU-MST, covering a wide parameter range, is instrumental to progress in the field, as ITER and DEMO core/pedestal and SOL parameters are not achievable simultaneously in present day devices. A two prong approach is adopted. On the one hand, scenarios with tolerable transient heat and particle loads, including active edge localised mode (ELM) control are developed. On the other hand, divertor solutions including advanced magnetic configurations are studied. Considerable progress has been made on both approaches, in particular in the fields of: ELM control with resonant magnetic perturbations (RMP), small ELM regimes, detachment onset and control, as well as filamentary scrape-off-layer transport. For example full ELM suppression has now been achieved on AUG at low collisionality with n  =  2 RMP maintaining good confinement . Advances have been made with respect to detachment onset and control. Studies in advanced divertor configurations (Snowflake, Super-X and X-point target divertor) shed new light on SOL physics. Cross field filamentary transport has been characterised in a wide parameter regime on AUG, MAST and TCV progressing the theoretical and experimental understanding crucial for predicting first wall loads in ITER and DEMO. Conditions in the SOL also play a crucial role for ELM stability and access to small ELM regimes.

Diagnosing the density profile at the edge of high temperature fusion plasmas by accelerated Lithium beam is a known technique since decades. By knowledge of the relevant atomic physics rate coefficients the plasma electron density profile can be calculated from the relatively calibrated light profile along the beam. Several additional possibilities have already been demonstrated: CXRS for ion temperature/flow, Zeeman polarimetry for edge plasma current; therefore the Li-beam diagnostic offers a wealth of information at the plasma edge. The weaknesses of the method are the relatively faint light signal, background light and technical difficulties of the beam injector which usually seriously limit the applicability. In this talk we present systematic developments in alkali-beam diagnostics (Li, Na) both for the injector, observation system and detectors which resulted in strongly increased capabilities. Advanced systems have been built and microsecond scale density profile, turbulence and zonal flow measurement demonstrated. A novel edge current measurement technique has also been designed and components tested with potentially microsecond-scale time resolution. Additional possibilities of these advanced systems for spectral measurements (CXRS, various Zeeman schemes) are also discussed.

Time delay estimation methods (TDE) are well-known techniques to investigate poloidal flows in hot magnetized plasmas through the propagation properties of turbulent structures in the medium. One of these methods is based on the estimation of the time lag at which the cross-correlation function (CCF) estimation reaches its maximum value. The uncertainty of the peak location refers to the smallest determinable flow velocity modulation, and therefore the standard deviation of the time delay imposes important limitation to the measurements. In this article, the relative standard deviation of the CCF estimation and the standard deviation of its peak location are calculated analytically using a simple model of turbulent signals. This model assumes independent (non interacting) overlapping events (coherent structures) with randomly distributed spatio-temporal origins moving with background flow. The result of our calculations is the derivation of a general formula for the CCF variance, which is valid not exclusively in the high event density limit, but also for arbitrary event densities. Our formula reproduces the well known expression for high event densities previously published in the literature. In this paper we also present a derivation of the variance of time delay estimation that turns out to be inversely proportional to the applied time window. The derived formulas were tested in real plasma measurements. The calculations are an extension of the earlier work of Bencze and Zoletnik [Phys. Plasmas 12, 052323 (2005)] where the autocorrelation-width technique was developed. Additionally, we show that velocities calculated by a TDE method possess a broadband noise which originates from this variance, its power spectral density cannot be decreased by worsening the time resolution and can be coherent with noises of other velocity measurements where the same turbulent structures are used. This noise should not be confused with the impact of zero mean frequency zonal flow modulations and can be the explanation for the TEXTOR velocity spectra measured by beam emission spectroscopy.