Observation of neoclassical tearing-mode excitation in EAST low-β _p H-mode plasmas using a gas electron multiplier-based camera

Abstract

The excitation of an initially stable neoclassical tearing mode (NTM) is investigated in Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) low-β p H-mode plasmas (β p is defined as the ratio of the thermal pressure to the poloidal magnetic pressure). Using similar plasma parameters, n = 1 resonant magnetic perturbation (RMP) cannot always successfully excite the m/n = 2/1 NTM with the same RMP coil current setup (n and m are the toroidal and poloidal mode numbers, respectively). Data from a gas electron multiplier camera shows that NTM destabilization is related to RMP-induced crashes at the q = 1 resonant surface during the RMP ramp-up phase. The second RMP-induced crash amplitude decays exponentially as β p increases. There is a critical value β p ≈ 0.76 above which the crash amplitude (or seed island width) is too small (below the critical island width) to trigger an NTM. Observation and analysis indicate that the m/n = 2/1 NTM is not forcibly driven by the n = 1 RMP (such as the m/n = 2/1 component), but is probably due to electron heat transport between the q = 1 and the q = 2 resonant surfaces. This paper describes experimental observations of NTM excitation which also have implications for further investigations of NTM locking and disruptions.

Progress of a gas-electron-multiplier based camera (GEM) in investigating EAST macroscopic instabilities

“…Since the 2D GEM was installed on EAST, it has been tested in experimental scenarios such as heavy impurity activities [12], the onset of neoclassical tearing mode (NTM) [13], magnetic island dynamics and plasma disruption. The NTM, first identified on tokamak fusion test reactor (TFTR) [14] and then in almost all tokamaks, has been recognized as one of the most dangerous instabilities that cause plasma disruptions [15].…”