Coated boron layers by boronization and a real-time boron coating using an impurity powder dropper in the LHD

In the Large Helical Device(LHD),diborane(B2H6)is used as a standard boron source for boronization,which is assisted by helium glow discharges.In 2019,a new Impurity Powder Dropper(IPD)system was installed and is under evaluation as a real-time wall conditioning technique.In the LHD,which is a large-sized heliotron device,an additional helium(He)glow discharge cleaning(GDC)after boronization was operated for a reduction in hydrogen recycling from the coated boron layers.This operational time of 3 h was determined by spectroscopic data during glow discharges.A flat hydrogen profile is obtained on the top surface of the coated boron on the specimen exposed to boronization.The results suggest a reduction in hydrogen at the top surface by He-GDC.Trapped oxygen in coated boron was obtained by boronization,and the coated boron,which has boron-oxide,on the first wall by B-IPD was also shown.Considering the difference in coating areas between B2H6 boronization and B-IPD operation,it would be most effective to use the IPD and B2H6 boronization coating together for optimized wall conditioning.

Fuel recycling feedback control via real-time boron powder injection in EAST with full metal wall

A feedback control of fuel recycling via real-time boron powder injection,addressing the issue of continuously increasing recycling in long-pulse plasma discharges,has been successfully developed and implemented on EAST tokamak.The feedback control system includes four main parts:the impurity powder dropper(IPD),a diagnostic system measuring fuel recycling level represented by D_(α)emission,a plasma control system(PCS)implementing the Proportional Integral Derivative(PID)algorithm,and a signal converter connecting the IPD and PCS.Based on this control system,both active control and feedback control experiments have recently been performed on EAST with a full metal wall.The experimental results show that the fuel recycling can be gradually reduced to lower level as PCS control voltage increases.In the feedback control experiments,it is also observed that the D_(α)emission is reduced to the level below the target D_(α)value by adjusting boron injection flow rate,indicating successful implementation of the fuel recycling feedback control on EAST.This technique provides a new method for fuel recycling control of long pulse and high parameter plasma operations in future fusion devices.

Clinical Study on the Treatment of Low Anal Fistula in Infants and Young Children by Anal Gland Excision and Virtual Hanging Procedure

Objective:To compare the efficacy of anal adenectomy with virtual hanging wire and anal fistulotomy in the treatment of low anal fistula in infants and children.Methods:60 children with low anal fistula who were admitted to our hospital from October 2021 to March 2022 and met the inclusion criteria were randomly divided into two groups of 30 cases each;the treatment group was treated with anal adenectomy and virtual hanging wire surgery,and the control group was treated with anal fistula resection.The clinical efficacy after treatment was compared.Results:The total effective rate of both groups was 96.67%and the difference between the two groups was not statistically significant(P>0.05).The postoperative pain score of the treatment group was lower than that of the control group(P<0.05).The length of hospitalization and healing time of the treatment group was lower than that of the control group(P<0.05).The anal function of the patients in both groups was normal,and there was no adverse reaction.Conclusion:Anal gland excision and virtual hanging surgery for the treatment of low anal fistula in infants and children have the advantages of mild pain,reduced length of hospitalization,short healing time,and better patient experience as compared to anal fistula excision.

Realization of T_(e0)>10 keV long pulse operation over 100 s on EAST

In 2021,EAST realized a steady-state long pulse with a duration over 100 s and a core electron temperature over 10 keV.This is an integrated operation that resolves several key issues,including active control of wall conditioning,long-lasting fully noninductive current and divertor heat/particle flux.The fully noninductive current is driven by pure radio frequency(RF)waves with a lower hybrid current drive power of 2.5 MW and electron cyclotron resonance heating of 1.4 MW.This is an excellent experimental platform on the timescale of hundreds of seconds for studying multiscale instabilities,electron-dominant transport and particle recycling(plasma-wall interactions)under weak collisionality.

Prediction of multifaceted asymmetric radiation from the edge movement in density-limit disruptive plasmas on Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak using random forest

Multifaceted asymmetric radiation from the edge(MARFE) movement which can cause density limit disruption is often encountered during high density operation on many tokamaks. Therefore, identifying and predicting MARFE movement is meaningful to mitigate or avoid density limit disruption for the steady-state high-density plasma operation. A machine learning method named random forest(RF) has been used to predict the MARFE movement based on the density ramp-up experiment in the 2022’s first campaign of Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak(EAST). The RF model shows that besides Greenwald fraction which is the ratio of plasma density and Greenwald density limit, dβp/dt,H98and d Wmhd/dt are relatively important parameters for MARFE-movement prediction. Applying the RF model on test discharges, the test results show that the successful alarm rate for MARFE movement causing density limit disruption reaches ~ 85% with a minimum alarm time of ~ 40 ms and mean alarm time of ~ 700 ms. At the same time, the false alarm rate for non-disruptive and non-density-limit disruptive discharges can be kept below 5%. These results provide a reference to the prediction of MARFE movement in high density plasmas, which can help the avoidance or mitigation of density limit disruption in future fusion reactors.

Study of the tungsten sputtering source suppression by wall conditionings in the EAST tokamak

The steady fusion plasma operation is constrained by tungsten(W)material sputtering issue in the EAST tokamak.In this work,the suppression of W sputtering source has been studied by advanced wall conditionings.It is also concluded that the W sputtering yield becomes more with increasing carbon(C)content in the main deuterium(D)plasma.In EAST,the integrated use of discharge cleanings and lithium(Li)coating has positive effects on the suppression of W sputtering source.In the plasma recovery experiments,it is suggested that the W intensity is reduced by approximately 60%with the help of~35 h Ion Cyclotron Radio Frequency Discharge Cleaning(ICRF-DC)and~40 g Li coating after vacuum failure.The first wall covered by Li film could be relieved from the bombardment of energetic particles,and the impurity in the vessel would be removed through the particle induced desorption and isotope exchange during the discharge cleanings.In general,the sputtering yield of W would decrease from the source,on the bias of the improvement of wall condition and the mitigation of plasmawall interaction process.It lays important base of the achievement of high-parameter and longpulse plasma operation in EAST.The experiences also would be constructive for us to promote the understanding of relevant physics and basis towards the ITER-like condition.

Higher resolution helium measuring system for deuterium plasma on EAST tokamak via normal Penning gauge

Although the deuterium and helium have almost the same mass,a Penning Optical Gas Analyzer（POGA） system on the basis of the spectroscopic method and Penning discharging has been designed on EAST,since 2014.The POGA system was developed successfully in 2015,it was the first time that EAST could detect helium partial pressure in deuterium plasma（wall conditioning and plasma operation scenario）.With dedicated calibration and proper adjustment of the parameters,the minimum concentration of helium in deuterium gas can be measured as about 0.5% instead of 1% on the other tokamak devices.Moreover,the He and D2 partial pressures are measured simultaneously.At present,the measurable range of deuterium partial pressure is 1×10^-7 mbar to 1×10^-5mbar,meanwhile the range of helium is 1×10^-8 mbar to 1×10^-5 mbar.The measurable range can be modified by means of the adjustment of POGA system＇s parameters.It is possible to detect the interesting part of the gas with a time resolution of less than 5 ms（the 200 ms because of conductance of transfer pipe at present）.The POGA system was routinely employed to wall conditioning and helium enrichment investigation in2015.Last but not the least,the low temperature plasma of POGA is generated by normal penning gauge Pfeiffer IKR gauge instead of Alcatel CF2 P,which has been suspended for a few years and was used for almost all the POGA systems in the world.

Evidence of vapor shielding effect on heat flux loaded on flowing liquid lithium limiter in EAST

A lithium(Li)vapour layer was formed around a flowing liquid Li limiter to shield against the plasma incident power and reduce limiter heat flux in the EAST tokamak.The results revealed that after a plasma operation of a few seconds,the layer became clear,which indicated a strong Li emission with a decrease in the limiter surface temperature.This emission resulted in a dense vapour around the limiter,and Li ions moved along the magnetic fleld to form a green shielding layer on the limiter.The plasma heat flux loaded on the limiter,measured by the probe installed on the limiter,was approximately 52%lower than that detected by a fast-reciprocating probe at the same radial position without the limiter in EAST.Additionally,approximately 42%of the parallel heat flux was dissipated directly with the enhanced Li radiation in the discharge with the liquid metal infused trenches(LIMIT)limiter.This observation revealed that the Li vapour layer exhibited an excellent shielding effect to liquid Li on plasma heat flux,which is a possible beneflt of liquid-plasma-facing components in future fusion devices.

Realization of minute-long steady-state H-mode discharges on EAST

In the 2016 EAST experimental campaign,a steady-state long-pulse H-mode discharge with an ITER-like tungsten divertor lasting longer than one minute has been obtained using only RF heating and current drive,through an integrated control of the wall conditioning,plasma configuration,divertor heat flux,particle exhaust,impurity management,and effective coupling of multiple RF heating and current drive sources at high injected power.The plasma current（Ip - 0.45 MA） was fully-noninductively driven（Vloop 〈 0.0 V） by a combination of-2.5 MW LHW,-0.4 MW ECH and -0.8 MW ICRF.This result demonstrates the progress of physics and technology studies on EAST,and will benefit the physics basis for steady state operation of ITER and CFETR.

Sparse Recovery of Linear Time-Varying Channel in OFDM System

In order to improve the performance of linear time-varying（LTV）channel estimation,based on the sparsity of channel taps in time domain,a sparse recovery method of LTV channel in orthogonal frequency division multiplexing（OFDM）system is proposed.Firstly,based on the compressive sensing theory,the average of the channel taps over one symbol duration in the LTV channel model is estimated.Secondly,in order to deal with the inter-carrier interference（ICI）,the group-pilot design criterion is used based on the minimization of mutual coherence of the measurement.Finally,an efficient pilot pattern optimization algorithm is proposed by a dual layer loops iteration.The simulation results show that the new method uses less pilots,has a smaller bit error ratio（BER）,and greater ability to deal with Doppler frequency shift than the traditional method does.

Achieving temporary divertor plasma detachment with MARFE events by pellet injection in the EAST superconducting tokamak

A new pellet injection system has been equipped on the experimental advanced superconducting tokamak（EAST） in the 2012 campaign,with a pellet size of Ф 2 mm×2 mm,a frequency of1 Hz–10 Hz and velocity of 150 m s^-1–300 m s^-1.The deuterium pellet is well-known for plasma fuelling as well as for triggering the edge localized mode（ELM）.In the 2012 campaign,pellet injection experiments were successfully carried out on EAST.Temporary plasma detachment achieved by deuterium pellets has been observed in a double null（DN） divertor configuration,with multi-pellet injections at a repetition frequency of 2 Hz.The partial detachment of the outer divertors and complete detachment of the inner divertors was achieved after 35 ms of each pellet injection,which have a duration of 30–60 ms with the maximum degree of detachment（DOD） reaching 3.5 and 37,respectively.Meanwhile,the multifaceted asymmetric radiation from the edge（MARFE） phenomena was also observed at the high field side（HFS） near both the lower and upper X-points with radiation loss suddenly increased to about 15%–70%,which may be the main cause of divertor plasma detachment.The temporary detachment induced by pellet injection may act as a new way to study divertor detachment behaviors.

Recent progress in Chinese fusion research based on superconducting tokamak configuration

Fusion energy is a promising source of clean energy,which could solve energy shortages and environmental pollution.Research into controlled fusion energy has been ongoing for over half a century.China has created a clear roadmap for magnetic confinement fusion development,where superconducting tokamaks will be used in commercial fusion reactors.The Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak(EAST)is the world’s first fully superconducting tokamak with upper and lower divertors,which aims at longpulse,steady-state,H-mode operation,and 101-s H-mode discharge had been achieved.In 2007,China joined the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor(ITER)and became one of its seven members.Thirteen procurement packages are undertaken by China,covering superconducting magnets,power supplies,plasma-facing components(PFCs),diagnostics,etc.To bridge the gap between the ITER and fusion demonstration power plants(DEMOs),China is planning to build the Chinese Fusion Engineering Testing Reactor(CFETR)to demonstrate related technologies and physics models.The engineering design of the CFETR was completed in 2020,and Comprehensive Research Facilities for Fusion Technology(CRAFT)are being constructed to explore the key technologies used in the CFETR.

Plasma-tungsten interactions in experimental advanced superconducting tokamak(EAST)

Tungsten(W)is used as the armor material of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor(ITER)divertor and is regarded as the potential first wall material of future fusion reactors.One of the key challenges for the successful application of W in fusion devices is effective control of W at an extremely low concentration in plasma.Understanding and control of W erosion are not only a prerequisite for W impurity control,but also vital concerns to plasma-facing component(PFC)lifetime.Since the application of ITER-like water-cooled full W divertor in EAST in 2014,great efforts were made to inves-tigate W erosion by experiment and simulation.A spectroscopic system was developed to provide a real-time measurement of W sputtering source.Both experiment and simulation results indicate that carbon(C)is the dominant impurity causing W sputtering in L-mode plasmas,which comes from the erosion of C plasma-facing material(PFM)in the lower divertor and the main chamber limiters.The mixture layer on the surface of W PFCs formed through redeposition or the wall coating can effectively suppress W erosion.Increasing the plasma density and radiation can reduce incident ion energy,thus alleviating W sputtering.In H-mode plasmas,control of edge localized mode(ELM)via resonant magnetic perturbation(RMP)proves to be capable of suppressing intra-ELM W erosion.The experiences and lessons from the EAST W divertor are beneficial to the design,manufacturing and operation of ITER and beyond.