Coexisting multi-geodesic acoustic modes (GAMs), especially coexisting dual GAMs, are observed and studied through Langmuir probe arrays at the edge plasmas of the HT-7 tokamak with lithium-coated walls. The dual GAMs are named a low-frequency GAM (LFGAM) and a high-frequency GAM (HFGAM), and it is found that within the measuring range, the HFGAM propagates outwards while the LFGAM propagates both inwards and outwards with their central frequencies nearly unchanged, and both modes have maximum amplitudes at positions with radial wavenumbers close to zero; meanwhile, the two positions happen to be where the continuum GAM frequency is closest to the central frequencies of the LFGAM and the HFGAM. These characteristics are consistent with those of a kinetic GAM converted from a continuum GAM. The nonlinear couplings between the LFGAM and the HFGAM are also analysed. In this study, we observed not only the interaction between the LFGAM and the HFGAM, but also the self-coupling of the GAM with the beat frequency between them, as well as the coupling between the LFGAM and an unknown mode at ∼50 kHz. These nonlinear interactions may play important roles during the saturation process of GAMs. Additionally, amplitude correlation analyses of multi-GAMs indicate that second harmonic GAMs are probably generated from the self-interaction of fundamental GAMs.

By analyzing large quantities of discharges in the unfavorable ion B ×∇B drift direction, the I-mode operation has been confirmed in EAST tokamak. During the L-mode to I-mode transition, the energy confinement has a prominent improvement by the formation of a high-temperature edge pedestal, while the particle confinement remains almost identical to that in the L-mode. Similar with the I-mode observation on other devices, the E r profiles obtained by the eight-channel Doppler backscattering system (DBS8)[1] show a deeper edge E r well in the I-mode than that in the L-mode. And a weak coherent mode (WCM) with the frequency range of 40-150 kHz is observed at the edge plasma with the radial extend of about 2-3 cm. WCM could be observed in both density fluctuation and radial electric field fluctuation, and the bicoherence analyses showed significant couplings between WCM and high frequency turbulence, implying that the E r fluctuation and the caused flow shear from WCM should play an important role during I-mode. In addition, a low-frequency oscillation with a frequency range of 5-10 kHz is always accompanied with WCM, where GAM intensity is decreased or disappeared. Many evidences show that the a low-frequency oscillation may be a arXiv:1902.04750v3 [physics.plasm-ph]

Here we report the experimental analysis on the low-n (mostly n  =  1, sometimes n  =  2) magnetic coherent mode (MCM) at a characteristic frequency 20–, which has been frequently observed in various H-mode discharges on EAST. This mode can be easily identified in the magnetic fluctuations measured by the fast Mirnov coils mounted on the vacuum vessel wall, but is detected by the local measurements of edge electrostatic fluctuations only when the mode is sufficiently strong. The apperance of the MCM is summarized covering broad ranges of discharge parameters, in particular, the different heating schemes including pure neutral beams injected in either co- or counter-current direction as well as pure ratio-frequency waves. This may rule out the possibility of fast particle driven modes. Radial distribution and poloidal propagation of the MCM are investigated using the Doppler backscattering system and Langmuir probes inserted at the outer midplane, respectively. Temporal evolution of MCM amplitude during large ELM crashes is evaluated in detail, may suggesting the mode is closely correlated with pedestal buildup. Dedicated experiments reveal the possible correlations of MCM’s frequencies with edge line-averaged density and edge safety factor q95. We also present the observation of multi MCMs at relatively high q95, which are speculated locating at different rational surfaces in the pedestal via analyzing their mode structures and nonlinear interactions. Finally, effect of the MCM on edge particle transport is explored via surveying the correlation between the intermittent events of the mode and the particle fluxes deposited on the divertor target plates, utilizing the conditional analysis method. Corresponding results suggest that the MCM seems to primarily result in a notable poloidal redistribution of the divertor particle flux, rather than a considerable net increase of the total flux.

Dedicated experiments focusing on the influence of lower hybrid waves (LHWs) on edge-localized modes (ELMs) were first performed during the 2012 experimental campaign of EAST, via modulating the input power of LHWs in the high-confinement-mode (H-mode) plasma mainly sustained by ion cyclotron resonant heating. Natural ELMs are effectively mitigated (ELM frequency increases, while its intensity decreases dramatically) as the LHW is applied, observed over a fairly wide range of plasma current or edge safety factor. By scanning the modulation frequency (fm) of LHW injected power in a target plasma dominated by the so-called small ELMs, we conclude that large ELMs with markedly larger amplitudes and lower frequencies are reproduced at low modulation frequencies (fm < 100 Hz). Analysis of the evolution of edge extreme ultraviolet radiation signals further indicates that plasma fluctuations at the pedestal region indistinctively respond to rapid modulation (fm ⩾ 100 Hz) of LHW injected power. This is proposed as the mechanism responsible for the observed fm dependence of the mitigation effect induced by LHWs on large ELMs. In addition, a critical threshold of LHW input power PLHW is estimated as , beyond which the impact of applied LHWs on ELM behaviours can be achieved. Finally, Langmuir probe measurements suggest that, rather than the concentration of free energy into a narrowband quasi-coherent precursor commonly observed growing until the ELM crash, the continuous development of broadband turbulence during the ELM-absent phase with the application of LHWs might contribute to the avoidance of ELM crashes. These results present new insights into existing experiments, and also provide some foundations and references for the next-step research about exploring in more depth and improving this new attractive method to effectively control the ELM-induced very large transient heat and particle flux.

A novel design of the three-step Langmuir probe (TSLP) array has been developed to investigate the zonal flow (ZF) physics in the HL-2A tokamak. Three TSLP arrays are applied to measure the three-dimensional (3D) features of ZFs. They are separated by 65 mm in the poloidal and 800 mm in the toroidal directions, respectively. The 3D properties of the geodesic acoustic mode (GAM) ZFs are presented. The poloidal and toroidal modes of the radial electric fields of the GAM perturbations are simultaneously determined in the HL-2A tokamak for the first time. The modes have narrow radial wave numbers (krρi = 0.03–0.07) and short radial scale lengths (2.4–4.2 cm). High coherence of both the GAM and the ambient turbulence separated by toroidal 22.5° along a magnetic field line is observed, which contrasts with the high coherence of the GAM and the low coherence of the ambient turbulence apart from the field line. The nonlinear three wave coupling between the turbulent fluctuations and the ZFs is a plausible mechanism for flow generation. The skewness and kurtosis spectra of the probability distribution function of the potential perturbations are contrasted with the corresponding bicoherence for the first time, which support the three wave coupling mechanism.