No abstract

Recently, a European transport project has been carried out among several fusion devices for studying the possible link between the mean radial electric field (E r ), long-range correlation (LRC) and edge bifurcations in fusion plasmas. The main results reported in this paper include: (i) the discovery of low-frequency LRCs in potential fluctuations which are amplified during the development of edge mean E r using electrode biasing and during the spontaneous development of edge sheared flows in stellarators and tokamaks. Evidence of nonlocal energy transfer and the geodesic acoustic mode modulation on local turbulent transport have also been observed. The observed LRCs are consistent with the theory of zonal flows described by a ‘predator–prey’ model. The results point to a significant link between the LRC and transport bifurcation. (ii) Comparative studies in tokamaks, stellarators and reversed field pinches have revealed significant differences in the level of the LRC. Whereas the LRCs are clearly observed in tokamaks and stellarators, no clear signature of LRCs was seen in the RFX-mod reversed field pinch experiments. These results suggest the possible influence of magnetic perturbations on the LRC, in agreement with recent observations in the resonant magnetic perturbation experiments at the TEXTOR tokamak. (iii) The degree of the LRCs is strongly reduced on approaching the plasma density-limit in tokamaks and stellarators, suggesting the possible role of collisionality or/and the impact of mean E r × B flow shear on zonal flows.

The influence of the magnetic ergodization on edge turbulence and turbulence-induced transport has been investigated by Langmuir probes in TEXTOR under three different static DED configurations. Common features are observed. With DED, the edge equilibrium profiles are altered and the resultant positive Er is in agreement with modelling. In the ergodic zone, the potential fluctuations are strongly reduced and the local turbulent flux changes direction from radially outwards to inwards. In the same zone, the turbulence properties are profoundly modified by energy redistribution in frequency spectra, suppression of large-scale structures and reduction of the radial and poloidal correlation lengths for all frequencies. Meanwhile, the fluctuation poloidal phase velocity changes sign from the electron to ion diamagnetic drift, consistent with the change of the Er × B flow, whereas the slight radially outward propagation of fluctuations is hindered by the DED. In the laminar region, the turbulence correlation is found to react to the observed reduced flow shear. Before the DED the Reynolds stress displays a radial gradient at the plasma edge while during DED the profile is suppressed, suggesting a rearrangement by the DED on the flow momentum profile.

In the first four years of the LHD experiment, several encouraging results have emerged, the most significant of which is that MHD stability and good transport are compatible in the inward shifted axis configuration. The observed energy confinement at this optimal configuration is consistent with ISS95 scaling with an enhancement factor of 1.5. The confinement enhancement over the smaller heliotron devices is attributed to the high edge temperature. We find that the plasma with an average beta of 3% is stable in this configuration, even though the theoretical stability conditions of Mercier modes and pressure driven low-n modes are violated. In the low density discharges heated by NBI and ECR, internal transport barrier (ITB) and an associated high central temperature (>10 keV) are seen. The radial electric field measured in these discharges is positive (electron root) and expected to play a key role in the formation of the ITB. The positive electric field is also found to suppress the ion thermal diffusivity as predicted by neoclassical transport theory. The width of the externally imposed island is found to decrease when the plasma is collisionless with finite beta and increase when the plasma is collisional. The ICRF heating in LHD is successful and a high energy tail (up to 500 keV) has been detected for minority ion heating, demonstrating good confinement of the high energy particles. The magnetic field line structure unique to the heliotron edge configuration is confirmed by measuring the plasma density and temperature profiles on the divertor plate. A long pulse (2 min) discharge with an ICRF power of 0.4 MW has been demonstrated and the energy confinement characteristics are almost the same as those in short pulse discharges.