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The first observation of 4D tomography measurement of plasma structures and fluctuations. Sci Rep 2021; 11:3720. [PMID: 33608562 PMCID: PMC7896047 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-83191-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2020] [Accepted: 02/01/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
A tomography system is installed as one of the diagnostics of new age to examine the three-dimensional characteristics of structure and dynamics including fluctuations of a linear magnetized helicon plasma. The system is composed of three sets of tomography components located at different axial positions. Each tomography component can measure the two-dimensional emission profile over the entire cross-section of plasma at different axial positions in a sufficient temporal scale to detect the fluctuations. The four-dimensional measurement including time and space successfully obtains the following three results that have never been found without three-dimensional measurement: (1) in the production phase, the plasma front propagates from the antenna toward the end plate with an ion acoustic velocity. (2) In the steady state, the plasma emission profile is inhomogeneous, and decreases along the axial direction in the presence of the azimuthal asymmetry. Furthermore, (3) in the steady state, the fluctuations should originate from a particular axial position located downward from the helicon antenna.
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Ghim YC, Schekochihin AA, Field AR, Abel IG, Barnes M, Colyer G, Cowley SC, Parra FI, Dunai D, Zoletnik S. Experimental signatures of critically balanced turbulence in MAST. PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS 2013; 110:145002. [PMID: 25166998 DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.110.145002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2012] [Indexed: 06/03/2023]
Abstract
Beam emission spectroscopy (BES) measurements of ion-scale density fluctuations in the MAST tokamak are used to show that the turbulence correlation time, the drift time associated with ion temperature or density gradients, the particle (ion) streaming time along the magnetic field, and the magnetic drift time are consistently comparable, suggesting a "critically balanced" turbulence determined by the local equilibrium. The resulting scalings of the poloidal and radial correlation lengths are derived and tested. The nonlinear time inferred from the density fluctuations is longer than the other times; its ratio to the correlation time scales as ν(*i)(-0.8 ± 0.1), where ν(*i) = ion collision rate/streaming rate. This is consistent with turbulent decorrelation being controlled by a zonal component, invisible to the BES, with an amplitude exceeding those of the drift waves by ∼ ν(*i)(-0.8).
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Affiliation(s)
- Y-C Ghim
- Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics, University of Oxford, 1 Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3NP, United Kingdom and EURATOM/CCFE Fusion Association, Culham Science Centre, Abingdon OX14 3DB, United Kingdom and Department of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering, KAIST, Daejeon 305-701, Republic of Korea
| | - A A Schekochihin
- Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics, University of Oxford, 1 Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3NP, United Kingdom and Merton College, Oxford OX1 4JD, United Kingdom
| | - A R Field
- EURATOM/CCFE Fusion Association, Culham Science Centre, Abingdon OX14 3DB, United Kingdom
| | - I G Abel
- Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics, University of Oxford, 1 Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3NP, United Kingdom and Merton College, Oxford OX1 4JD, United Kingdom
| | - M Barnes
- Plasma Science and Fusion Center, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA and Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA
| | - G Colyer
- Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics, University of Oxford, 1 Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3NP, United Kingdom and EURATOM/CCFE Fusion Association, Culham Science Centre, Abingdon OX14 3DB, United Kingdom
| | - S C Cowley
- EURATOM/CCFE Fusion Association, Culham Science Centre, Abingdon OX14 3DB, United Kingdom and Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom
| | - F I Parra
- Plasma Science and Fusion Center, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
| | - D Dunai
- Wigner Research Centre for Physics, Association EURATOM/HAS, P.O. Box 49, H-1525 Budapest, Hungary
| | - S Zoletnik
- Wigner Research Centre for Physics, Association EURATOM/HAS, P.O. Box 49, H-1525 Budapest, Hungary
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Highcock EG, Schekochihin AA, Cowley SC, Barnes M, Parra FI, Roach CM, Dorland W. Zero-turbulence manifold in a toroidal plasma. PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS 2012; 109:265001. [PMID: 23368571 DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.109.265001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2012] [Revised: 11/30/2012] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
Sheared toroidal flows can cause bifurcations to zero-turbulent-transport states in tokamak plasmas. The maximum temperature gradients that can be reached are limited by subcritical turbulence driven by the parallel velocity gradient. Here it is shown that q/ϵ (magnetic field pitch/inverse aspect ratio) is a critical control parameter for sheared tokamak turbulence. By reducing q/ϵ, far higher temperature gradients can be achieved without triggering turbulence, in some instances comparable to those found experimentally in transport barriers. The zero-turbulence manifold is mapped out, in the zero-magnetic-shear limit, over the parameter space (γ(E), q/ϵ, R/L(T)), where γ(E) is the perpendicular flow shear and R/L(T) is the normalized inverse temperature gradient scale. The extent to which it can be constructed from linear theory is discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- E G Highcock
- Magdalen College, Oxford OX1 4AU, United Kingdom.
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Parra FI, Nave MFF, Schekochihin AA, Giroud C, de Grassie JS, Severo JHF, de Vries P, Zastrow KD. Scaling of spontaneous rotation with temperature and plasma current in tokamaks. PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS 2012; 108:095001. [PMID: 22463645 DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.108.095001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2011] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
Using theoretical arguments, a simple scaling law for the size of the intrinsic rotation observed in tokamaks in the absence of a momentum injection is found: The velocity generated in the core of a tokamak must be proportional to the ion temperature difference in the core divided by the plasma current, independent of the size of the device. The constant of proportionality is of the order of 10 km·s(-1)·MA·keV(-1). When the intrinsic rotation profile is hollow, i.e., it is countercurrent in the core of the tokamak and cocurrent in the edge, the scaling law presented in this Letter fits the data remarkably well for several tokamaks of vastly different size and heated by different mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- F I Parra
- Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3NP, UK.
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