First experiments with non-axisymmetric magnetic perturbations, toroidal mode number n = 2, produced by newly installed in-vessel saddle coils in the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak show significant reduction of plasma energy loss and peak divertor power load associated with type-I Edge Localized Modes (ELMs) in high-confinement mode plasmas. ELM mitigation is observed above an edge density threshold and is obtained both with magnetic perturbations that are resonant and not resonant with the edge safety factor profile. Compared with unperturbed type-I ELMy reference plasmas, plasmas with mitigated ELMs show similar confinement, similar plasma density and lower tungsten impurity concentration.

H modes with good confinement and small ELMs with the characteristics of type II or grassy ELMs have been observed on ASDEX Upgrade. Such an ELM behaviour is essential to minimize erosion of the divertor tiles in any next step device. For the first time, operation with this favourable ELM type could be demonstrated close to the Greenwald density. Even for such high densities, energy confinement times were close to recent H mode scalings. High density even seems to be favourable, since steady state pure type II ELMy H mode phases on ASDEX Upgrade are obtained only above ne/nGW ≥ 0.85. Additional requirements are q95 ≥ 4.2 and an equilibrium close to a double null configuration with an average triangularity δ = 0.40. For these small ELMs magnetic precursors are observed with a frequency of ≈30 kHz and dominant mode numbers of toroidally 3 and 4 and poloidally ≥14.

In ASDEX Upgrade, experimental efforts aim to establish pace making and mitigation of type-I edge localized modes (ELMs) in high confinement mode (H-mode) discharges. Injection of small size cryogenic deuterium pellets (∼(1.4 mm)2 × 0.2 mm ≈ 2.5 × 1019 D) at rates up to 83 Hz imposed persisting ELM control without significant fuelling, enabling for investigations well inside the type-I ELM regime. The approach turned out to meet all required operational features. ELM pace making was realized with the driving frequency ranging from 1 to 2.8 times the intrinsic ELM frequency, the upper boundary set by hardware limits. ELM frequency enhancement by pellet pace making causes much less confinement reduction than by engineering means like heating, gas bleeding or plasma shaping. Confinement reduction is observed in contrast to the typical for engineering parameters. Matched discharges showed triggered ELMs ameliorated with respect to intrinsic counterparts while their frequency was increased. No significant differences were found in the ELM dynamics with the available spatial and temporal resolution. By breaking the close correlation of ELM frequency and plasma parameters, pace making allows the establishment of fELM as a free parameter giving enhanced operational headroom for tailoring H-mode scenarios with acceptable ELMs. Use was made of the pellet pace making tool in several successful applications in different scenarios. It seems that further reduction of the pellet mass could be possible, eventually resulting in less confinement reduction as well.