Achievement of reactor relevant plasma condition in Helical type magnetic devices and exploration in its related plasma physics and fusion engineering are the aim of the Large Helical Device (LHD) project. In the recent experiments on LHD, we have achieved iontemperature of 8.1keV at 1x10 19 m -3 by the optimization of wall conditioning using long pulse discharge by Ion Cyclotron Heating (ICH). The electron temperature of 10keV at 1.6x10 19 m -3 was also achieved by the optimization of Electron Cyclotron Heating (ECH). For further improvement in plasma performance, the upgrade of the Large Helical Device (LHD), including the deuterium experiment, is planned. In this paper, the recent achievements on LHD and the upgrade of LHD are described.

As the finalization of the hydrogen experiment towards the deuterium phase, the exploration of the best performance of the hydrogen plasma was intensively performed in the Large Helical Device (LHD). High ion and electron temperatures, Ti, Te, of more than 6 keV were simultaneously achieved by superimposing the high power electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECH) on the neutral beam injection (NBI) heated plasma. Although flattening of the ion temperature profile in the core region was observed during the discharges, one could avoid the degradation by increasing the electron density. Another key parameter to present plasma performance is an averaged beta value . The high regime around 4 % was extended to an order of magnitude lower than the earlier collisional regime. Impurity behaviour in hydrogen discharges with NBI heating was also classified with the wide range of edge plasma parameters. Existence of no impurity accumulation regime where the high performance plasma is maintained with high power heating > 10 MW was identified. Wide parameter scan experiments suggest that the toroidal rotation and the turbulence are the candidates for expelling impurities from the core region.

The deuterium experiment started from March, 2017 on the Large Helical Device (LHD) as a part of LHD high-performance upgrade project.The objectives of the deuterium experiment is (1) to realize the high performance operation, (2) to explore the physics of isotope effect, (3) to demonstrate the confinement capability of energetic particles in helical devices, and (4) to explore the research on plasma material interactions using the benefit of stable steady state operation ability of LHD. As preparations for deuterium experiment, the positive-ion based Neutral Beam Injectors (NBIs) are upgraded to increase their injection power in deuterium operation. On the other hand, the injection power of negative-ion based NBI is deteriorated due to the isotope effect of negative-ion source. The neutron diagnostic and the exhaust detritiation system are newly installed for the deuterium experiment. The commissioning of LHD for the deuterium experiment is quite successful. The high ion temperature operation region is extended by the deuterium experiment. Ion temperature exceeding 9keV is achieved with the deuterium operation of LHD.

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