Abstract. The penetration process of a rotating magnetic perturbation into a rotating tokamak plasma has been investigated, taking account of the mode structure of the perturbations, and using a small magnetic probe in the small research tokamak CSTN-IV. It was observed that the radial component of the perturbation was amplified in the plasma when magnetic islands are formed, while the poloidal component was attenuated but, deep inside the plasma, amplified. Using a resistive MHD code, such modifications of external perturbation were found to be caused by a redistribution of plasma current due to the formation of magnetic islands. Considering the phase velocity of both the perturbation and the intrinsic plasma rotation, it was also found that the sideband component substantially affects the penetration process with magnetic islands forming. Therefore, in dynamic ergodic divertor operation, it is necessary to put the emphasis not only on the frequency of the perturbation fields but also on their direction, mode structure and the radial profile of the intrinsic plasma rotation at the same time.

Rotation of a helical magnetic limiter in the poloidal and toroidal directions is shown to be a good method of avoiding the non-uniform wall loading that is obtained when a static local helical field is applied. Mechanisms of the static and dynamic modification of the plasma potential at the tokamak edge are discussed in terms of magnetic field structure, ambipolarity, electron transport along the stochastic magnetic fields and cross-field drift motion of plasma particles. The magnetic structure is studied by Poincaré mapping of field lines traced numerically, using a code that accounts for the exact configuration of local helical coils.

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Direct observations of tokamak plasma responses to an externally applied rotating helical magnetic perturbation (RHMP) have been performed on the small tokamak device HYBTOK-II in order to clarify the penetration process of the RHMP into tokamak plasmas. Not only electromagnetic but also electrostatic fluctuations have been measured with small magnetic probes and a four-pin Langmuir probe, which were inserted inside the plasma. As regards the observed radial profiles of the RHMP in the plasma, the low Doppler-shifted frequency of RHMP produces the amplification of RHMP in the plasma due to magnetic island formation, while the expected attenuation of RHMP in the plasma has been found in the case of the high Doppler-shifted frequency. It is also found that the observed radial electric fields with the four-pin Langmuir probe have strong dependences on the driving frequency of the RHMP and the toroidal magnetic field. A theoretical calculation of the Alfvén wave propagation driven by local helical coils in HYBTOK-II has also been carried out. The observed electric fields are discussed in terms of the Alfvén resonance and the growth of magnetic islands.

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