Two data points in the shaded zones of Figs. 3(a) and 3(b) (one point for each figure), were omitted in the published version of these figures. The correct Fig. 3 is shown below.FIG. 3. Radial profiles of (a) electron density, ( b) electron temperature, and (c) ion temperature at 6 s and (d) safety factor at 5.9 s of the discharge shown in Fig. 2. The volume-averaged plasma minor radius is 1.01 m.

Instabilities with frequency chirping in the frequency range of Alfvén eigenmodes have been found in the domain 0.1% < β h < 1% and v b /vA ∼ 1 with high energy neutral beam injection in JT-60U. One instability with a frequency inside the Alfvén continuum spectrum appears and its frequency increases slowly to the toroidicity induced Alfvén eigenmode (TAE) gap on the timescale of an equilibrium change (≈200 ms). Other instabilities appear with a frequency inside the TAE gap and their frequencies change very quickly by 10-20 kHz in 1-5 ms. During the period when these fast frequency sweeping (fast FS) modes occur, abrupt large amplitude events (ALEs) often appear with a drop of neutron emission rate and an increase in fast neutral particle fluxes. The loss of energetic ions increases with a peak fluctuation amplitude of Bθ /B θ . An energy dependence of the loss ions is observed and suggests a resonant interaction between energetic ions and the mode.

The operation of JT-60U reversed shear discharges has been extended to a high plasma current, low q regime keeping a large radius of the internal transport barrier (ITB), and a record value of equivalent fusion multiplication factor in JT-60U, QDTeq = 1.25, has been achieved at 2.6 MA. Operational schemes to reach the low q regime with good reproducibility have been developed. The reduction of Zeff was obtained in the newly installed W shaped pumped divertor. The β limit in the low qmin regime, which limited the performance of L mode edge discharges, has been improved in H mode edge discharges with a broader pressure profile, which was obtained by power flow control with ITB degradation. Sustainment of the ITB and improved confinement for 5.5 s has been demonstrated in an ELMy H mode reversed shear discharge.

The article treats the recent development of quasi-steady ELMy high βp H mode discharges with enhanced confinement and high β stability, where long sustainment time, an increase in absolute fusion performance and extension of the discharge regime towards low q95 (∼3) are emphasized. After modification to the new W shaped pumped divertor, a long heating time (9 s) with a high total heating energy input of 203 MJ became possible without a harmful increase in impurity and particle recycling. In addition, optimization of the pressure profile characterized by the double transport barriers, optimum electron density and/or high triangularity δ made it possible to extend the performance in long pulses. The DT equivalent fusion gain Q eq DT ≈ 0.1 (δ = 0.16) was sustained for ∼9 s (∼50τE, ∼10τ * p ) and Q eq DT ≈ 0.16 (δ = 0.3) for 4.5 s at Ip = 1.5 MA. In the latter case with higher δ, an H factor (=τE/τ ITER89PL E ) of ∼2.2, βN ≈ 1.9 and βp ≈ 1.6 were sustained with 60-70% of the non-inductively driven current. In the low q95 (∼3) region, the β limit was improved by the high δ (∼0.46) shape, where βN ≈ 2.5-2.7 was sustained for ∼3.5 s with the collisionality close to that of ITER-FDR plasmas. The limit of the edge α parameter in the ELMy phase increases with δ, which is the main reason behind the improved β limit in a long pulse at high δ. The sustainable value of βN H also increases with δ. Sustainable βN is limited by the onset of low n resistive modes. Direct measurement of island width shows agreement with the neoclassical tearing mode theory.

The operation of reversed shear plasmas in JT-60U has been extended to the low-q, high-Ip region keeping a large radius transport barrier, and a high fusion performance has been achieved. Record values of deuterium-tritium (DT)-equivalent power gain in JT-60U have been obtained: QDTeq = 1.05, τE = 0.97 s, nD(0) = 4.9 × 1019 m-3 and Ti(0) = 16.5 keV. A large improvement in confinement resulted from the formation of an internal transport barrier (ITB) with a large radius, which was characterized by steep gradients in electron density, electron temperature and ion temperature just inside the position of qmin. Large negative shear regions, up to 80% of the plasma minor radius in the low-qmin regime (qmin∼2), were obtained by plasma current ramp-up after the formation of the ITB with the pressure and current profiles being controlled by adjustment of plasma volume and beam power. The ITB was established by on-axis beam heating into a low density target plasma with reversed shear that was formed by current ramp-up without beam heating. The confinement time increased with the radius of the ITB and the decrease of qmin at a fixed toroidal field. High H factors, up to 3.3, were achieved with an L mode edge. The effective one fluid thermal diffusivity χeff had its minimum in the ITB. The values of H/q95 and βt increased with the decrease of q95, and the highest performance was achieved at q95 ∼3.1 (2.8 MA). The performance was limited by disruptive beta collapses with βN∼2 at qmin∼2.