Characteristics of divertor heat flux distribution with an island divertor configuration on the J-TEXT tokamak

On J-TEXT,the temporal evolution of heat flux distribution on the high-field side(HFS)divertor plate has been measured by an infrared(IR)camera during the plasma operation with an island divertor configuration.In experiments,the island divertor configuration is an edge magnetic island chain structure surrounded by stochastic layers,which can be induced by resonant magnetic perturbations(RMPs).The experimental results show that the heat flux distribution on the HFS target plate depends significantly on the edge magnetic topology.Furthermore,the impact of hydrogen fueling using supersonic molecular beam injection(SMBI)on the divertor heat flux distributions is studied on J-TEXT with an island divertor configuration.It has been observed that power detachment can be achieved when the radiation front approaches the last closed flux surface(LCFS)after each SMBI pulse.This result may provide a method of access for divertor detachment on a fusion device with a three-dimensional(3D)boundary magnetic structure.

Application of three-dimensional MHD equilibrium calculation coupled with plasma response to island divertor experiments on J-TEXT

Three-dimensional(3D) equilibrium calculations, including the plasma rotation shielding effect to resonant magnetic perturbations(RMPs) produced by the island divertor(ID) coils, were carried out using the HINT and MARS-F codes on J-TEXT. Validation of 3D equilibrium calculations with experimental observations demonstrates that the shielding effect will prevent the penetration of the edge m/n = 3/1 mode component when the ID coil current is 4 k A, while change the size of magnetic islands once the current exceeds the penetration threshold. This indicates that equilibrium calculations including the plasma rotation shielding effect to RMPs can lead to better agreements with experimental observations compared to the vacuum approximation method. Additionally, the magnetic topology at the boundary undergoes changes,impacting the interaction between the plasma and the target plate. These results may be important in understanding RMP effects on edge transport and magnetohydrodynamic(MHD)instability control, as well as divertor heat and particle flux distribution control.

Characteristics of the SOL ion-to-electron temperature ratio on the J-TEXT tokamak with different plasma configurations

Accurate measurement of the average plasma parameters in the edge region,including the temperature and density of electrons and ions,is critical for understanding the characteristics of the scrape-off layer(SOL) and divertor plasma transport in magnetically confined fusion research.On the J-TEXT tokamak,a multi-channel retarding field analyzer(RFA) probe has been developed to study average plasma parameters in the edge region under various poloidal divertor and island divertor configurations.The edge radial profile of the ion-to-electron temperature ratio,τ_(i/e),has been determined,which gradually decreases as the SOL ion self-collisionality,v_(SOL)*,increases.This is broadly consistent with what has been observed previously from various tokamak experiments.However,the comparison of experimental results under different configurations shows that in the poloidal divertor configuration,even under the same v_(SOL)*,τ_(i/e) in the SOL region becomes smaller as the distance from the X-point to the target plate increases.In the island divertor configuration,τ_(i/e) near the O-point is higher than that near the X-point at the same v_(SOL)*,and both are higher than those in the limiter configuration.These results suggest that the magnetic configuration plays a critical role in the energy distributions between electrons and ions at the plasma boundary.

Development of a toroidal soft x-ray imaging system and application for investigating three-dimensional plasma on J-TEXT

A toroidal soft x-ray imaging(T-SXRI)system has been developed to investigate threedimensional(3D)plasma physics on J-TEXT.This T-SXRI system consists of three sets of SXR arrays.Two sets are newly developed and located on the vacuum chamber wall at toroidal positionsφof 126.4°and 272.6°,respectively,while one set was established previously atφ=65.50.Each set of SXR arrays consists of three arrays viewing the plasma poloidally,and hence can be used separately to obtain SXR images via the tomographic method.The sawtooth precursor oscillations are measured by T-SXRI,and the corresponding images of perturbative SXR signals are successfully reconstructed at these three toroidal positions,hence providing measurement of the 3D structure of precursor oscillations.The observed 3D structure is consistent with the helical structure of the m/n=1/1 mode.The experimental observation confirms that the T-SXRI system is able to observe 3D structures in the J-TEXT plasma.

Error field penetration in J-TEXT tokamak based on two-fluid drift-MHD model

An externally generated resonant magnetic perturbation can induce complex non-ideal MHD responses in their resonant surfaces.We have studied the plasma responses using Fitzpatrick's improved two-fluid model and program LAYER.We calculated the error field penetration threshold for J-TEXT.In addition,we find that the island width increases slightly as the error field amplitude increases when the error field amplitude is below the critical penetration value.However,the island width suddenly jumps to a large value because the shielding effect of the plasma against the error field disappears after the penetration.By scanning the natural mode frequency,we find that the shielding effect of the plasma decreases as the natural mode frequency decreases.Finally,we obtain the m/n=2/1 penetration threshold scaling on density and temperature.

Suppression of the m/n=2/1 tearing mode by electron cyclotron resonance heating on J-TEXT

Stabilization of tearing modes and neoclassical tearing modes is of great importance for tokamak operation.Electron cyclotron waves(ECWs)have been extensively used to stabilize the tearing modes with the virtue of highly localized power deposition.Complete suppression of the m/n=2/1 tearing mode(TM)by electron cyclotron resonance heating(ECRH)has been achieved successfully on the J-TEXT tokamak.The effects of ECW deposition location and power amplitude on the 2/1 TM suppression have been investigated.It is found that the suppression is more effective when the ECW power is deposited closer to the rational surface.As the ECW power increases to approximately 230 k W,the 2/1 TM can be completely suppressed.The island rotation frequency is increased when the island width is reduced.The experimental results show that the local heating inside the magnetic island and the resulting temperature perturbation increase at the O-point of the island play dominant roles in TM suppression.As the ECW power increases,the 2/1 island is suppressed to smaller island width,and the flow shear also plays a stabilizing effect on small magnetic islands.With the stabilizing contribution of heating and flow shear,the 2/1 TM can be completely suppressed.

Investigation of the J-TEXT plasma events by k-means clustering algorithm

Various types of plasma events emerge in specific parameter ranges and exhibit similar characteristics in diagnostic signals,which can be applied to identify these events.A semisupervised machine learning algorithm,the k-means clustering algorithm,is utilized to investigate and identify plasma events in the J-TEXT plasma.This method can cluster diverse plasma events with homogeneous features,and then these events can be identified if given few manually labeled examples based on physical understanding.A survey of clustered events reveals that the k-means algorithm can make plasma events(rotating tearing mode,sawtooth oscillations,and locked mode)gathering in Euclidean space composed of multi-dimensional diagnostic data,like soft x-ray emission intensity,edge toroidal rotation velocity,the Mirnov signal amplitude and so on.Based on the cluster analysis results,an approximate analytical model is proposed to rapidly identify plasma events in the J-TEXT plasma.The cluster analysis method is conducive to data markers of massive diagnostic data.

Observation of the poloidally asymmetrical density perturbation of sawtooth collapse on J-TEXT

The detailed density perturbations provided by the advanced polarimeter-interferometer system(Polaris) during sawtooth collapse on the Joint Texas Experimental Tokamak(J-TEXT) are reported in this article.During a sawtooth collapse and the crash of plasma pressure at the center,it is found that the increase in density in the region between the inversion radius and mixing radius is poloidally asymmetrical,while the increase in temperature is poloidally symmetrical.The poloidal location where the density increases is dependent on the phase of the precursory m/n=1/1 kink mode.It is always out of phase with the hot core of the m/n=1/1 mode.The behaviors of density perturbations during sawtooth collapse observed in J-TEXT are beyond the expectations of the standard model,and this can shed new light on the understanding of sawtooth collapse.

Design of new resonant magnetic perturbation coils on the J-TEXT tokamak

The resonant magnetic perturbation(RMP)system is a powerful auxiliary system on tokamaks.On the J-TEXT tokamak,a set of new in-vessel coils is designed to enhance the amplitude of the RMP.The new coils are designed to be two-turn saddle coils.These two-turn saddle coils have been optimized in terms of their structure,support,and protection components to overcome the limitations of the narrow in-vessel space,resulting in a compact coil module that can be accommodated in the vessel.To verify the feasibility of this design,an electromagnetic simulation is performed to investigate the electrical parameters and the generated field of the coils.A multi-field coupled simulation is performed to investigate the capacity of heat dissipation.As a result of these efforts,the new RMP coils have been successfully installed on the J-TEXT tokamak.It has significantly enhanced the RMP amplitude and been widely applied in experiments.

Design and first result of combined Langmuir-magnetic probe on J-TEXT tokamak

In order to measure boundary electrostatic and magnetic fluctuations simultaneously,a combined Langmuir-magnetic probe(CLMP)has been designed and built on joint-Texas experimental tokamak.The probe consists of 8 graphite probe pins and a 3D magnetic probe,driven by a mechanical pneumatic device.By means of simulation,the shielding effect of the graphite sleeve on the magnetic fluctuation signal is explored,and the influence of the eddy current was reduced by cutting the graphite sleeve.In the experiment,it has been verified that the mutual inductance of electromagnetic signals can be ignored,and a 70–90 k Hz electromagnetic mode is observed around the last closed magnetic surface.The establishment of CLMP provides data for the exploration of the coupling of electrostatic and magnetic fluctuations.

Study of the spectrum effect on the threshold of resonant magnetic perturbation penetration on J-TEXT

The spectrum effect on the penetration of resonant magnetic perturbation(RMP) is studied with upgraded in-vessel RMP coils on J-TEXT.The poloidal spectrum of the RMP field,especially the amplitudes of 2/1 and 3/1 components,can be varied by the phase difference between the upper and lower coil rows,ΔΦ=Φ_(top)-Φ_(bottom),where Φ_(top)and Φ_(bottom)are the toroidal phases of the n=1 field of each coil row.The type of RMP penetration is found to be related to ΔΦ,including the RMP penetration of either 2/1 or 3/1 RMP and the successive penetrations of 3/1 RMP followed by the 2/1 RMP.For cases with penetration of only one RMP component,the penetration thresholds measured by the corresponding resonant component are close for variousΔΦ.However,the 2/1 RMP penetration threshold is significantly reduced if the 3/1 locked island is formed in advance.The changes in the rotation profile due to 3/1 locked island formation could partially contribute to the reduction of the 2/1 thresholds.

Study of the fast electron behavior in electron cyclotron current driven plasma on J-TEXT

In J-TEXT tokamak,fast electron bremsstrahlung diagnostic with 9 chords equipped with multichannel analyzer enables detailed studies of the generation and transport of fast electrons.The spatial profiles and energy spectrum of the fast electrons have been measured in two ECCD cases with either on-axis or off-axis injection,and the profiles processed by Abel-inversion are consistent with the calculated power deposition locations.Moreover,it is observed that the energy of fast electrons increases rapidly after turning off the ECCD,which may be attributed to the acceleration by the recovered loop voltage at low electron density.

Realization of divertor configuration discharge in J-TEXT tokamak

To extend the operation region of the Joint-Texas Experimental tokamak(J-TEXT) to the divertor configuration and even the H-mode,the divertor configuration discharge has been realized for the first time in the J-TEXT tokamak.Along with the establishment of a power supply for the divertor configuration,the construction of relevant diagnostics,and the installation of the divertor target on the high-field side,divertor discharge has been tested.Through the equilibrium calculation and position stability analysis,the control strategy has evolved to be more stable.High-density experiments and auxiliary heating experiments have been carried out on the divertor configuration.The special midplane single-null(MSN) divertor configuration is shown to be more stable than the limiter configuration in the density limit condition and can reach a higher density in the experiment.In the ECRH experiment,the power injection enhances the electron temperature and density,while more heat outflux is loaded on the divertor target tiles and causes more intensive recycling and impurity release.The future plan for the divertor configuration operation in the J-TEXT tokamak is also included.

Magnetic diagnostics for magnetohydrodynamic instability research and the detection of locked modes in J-TEXT

Magnetohydrodynamic(MHD)instabilities are widely observed during tokamak plasma operation.Magnetic diagnostics provide important information which supports the understanding and control of MHD instabilities.This paper presents the current status of the magnetic diagnostics dedicated to measuring MHD instabilities at the J-TEXT tokamak;the diagnostics consist of five Mirnov probe arrays for measuring high-frequency magnetic perturbations and two saddle-loop arrays for low-frequency magnetic perturbations,such as the locked mode.In recent years,several changes have been made to these arrays.The structure of the probes in the poloidal Mirnov arrays has been optimized to improve their mechanical strength,and the number of in-vessel saddle loops has also been improved to support better spatial resolution.Due to the installation of high-field-side(HFS)divertor targets in early 2019,some of the probes were removed,but an HFS Mirnov array was designed and installed behind the targets.Owing to its excellent toroidal symmetry,the HFS Mirnov array has,for the first time at J-TEXT,provided valuable new information about the locked mode and the quasi-static mode(QSM)in the HFS.Besides,various groups of magnetic diagnostics at different poloidal locations have been systematically used to measure the QSM,which confirmed the poloidal mode number m and the helical structure of the QSM.By including the HFS information,the 2/1 resonant magnetic perturbation(RMP)-induced locked mode was measured to have a poloidal mode number m of~2.

Development of the HCN heterodyne collective scattering system on J-TEXT

A heterodyne collective scattering system has been designed and developed to investigate the turbulent transport of core plasma on J-TEXT.A dual-HCN laser which consists of two separately pumped HCN gas lasers at 337μm has been developed as the laser source of the scattering system.The intermediate frequency(IF)is~1 MHz when there is a 4μm cavity length difference and capable to maintain stability more than 5 h without manual operation.Detection channels at three different angles(2≤k_(⊥)≤12 cm^(-1))have been installed with Schottky barrier diode mixers of 893 GHz.The sampling frequency of the acquisition system is6 MHz to observe low-frequency density fluctuations.Initial experimental results have been detected and more results can be expected in future experiments.

The spectrum analysis of RMP coils with multiple connection modes and the design of high field side coils on J-TEXT

The phase difference Δξ between locked islands(2/1 and 3/1) has been found to influence the heat transport on the thermal quench during disruptions by numerical modeling [Hu Q et al 2019Nucl.Fusion 59,016005].To verify this experimentally,a set of resonant magnetic perturbation(RMP) coils is required to excite coupled magnetic islands with different Δξ.The spectrum analysis shows that the current RMP coils on J-TEXT can only produce sufficient 2/1 and 3/1RMP fields with a limited phase difference of Δξ∈[-75°,75°].In order to broaden the adjustable range of Δξ,a set of coils on the high field side(HFS) is proposed to generate 2/1 and 3/1 RMP fields with Δξ=180°.As a result,RMPs with adjustable Δξ∈[-180°,180°] and sufficient amplitudes could be achieved by applying the HFS coils and the low field side(LFS)coils.This work provides a feasible solution for flexible adjustment of the phase difference between m and m+1 RMP,which might facilitate the study of major disruptions and their control.

Development of the pellet injection system on the J-TEXT tokamak

Pellet injection is an attractive technology for core-fueling and magnetohydrodynamic study in magnetic-conflnement fusion devices like tokamaks and stellarators.It can inject solid hydrogen/deuterium pellets into the plasma with deeper density deposition compared with other fueling methods,such as gas pufflng.A three-barrel H_(2)pellet injection system was installed on the J-TEXT tokamak and experiments were carried out.The pellets are formed in three barrels cooled by a cryocooler and compressor system at around 9 K,and are 0.8 mm/1 mm diameter and 0.8 mm length.The pellet is launched by helium propellant gas and injected from the lowfleld side of the plasma.The normal range of pellet speed is 210–310 m s^(-1)for different propellant gas pressures.Due to the three-barrel structure,the number of injected pellets can be adjusted between one and three.Pellets can be launched sequentially with arbitrary time intervals,which enables flexible applications.The results of the experiments show that pellet fueling efflciency can reach 50%.The energy conflnement time increased by about 7.5–10 ms after pellet injection.

Towards advanced divertor configurations on the J-TEXT tokamak

Developing advanced magnetic divertor configurations to address the coupling of heat and particle exhaust with impurity control is one of the major challenges currently constraining the further development of fusion research.It has therefore become the focus of extensive attention in recent years.In J-TEXT,several new divertor configurations,including the high-field-side single-null poloidal divertor and the island divertor,as well as their associated fundamental edge divertor plasma physics,have recently been investigated.The purpose of this paper is to briefly summarize the latest progress and achievements in this relevant research field on J-TEXT from the past few years.

Investigation of electron cyclotron current drive efficiency on the J-TEXT tokamak

Electron cyclotron current drive(ECCD) efficiency research is of great importance for the neoclassical tearing mode(NTM) stabilization.Improving ECCD efficiency is beneficial for the NTM stabilization and the ECCD power threshold reduction.ECCD efficiency has been investigated on the J-TEXT tokamak.The electron cyclotron wave(ECW) power scan was performed to obtain the current drive efficiency.The current drive efficiency is derived to be approximately η_(0)=(0.06-0.16)×10^(19)A m^(-2)W^(-1)on the J-TEXT tokamak.The effect of the residual toroidal electric field has been included in the determination of the current drive efficiency,which will enhance the ECCD efficiency.At the plasma current of I_(p)=100 kA and electron density of n_(e)=1.5×10^(19)m^(-3),the ratio of Spitzer conductivity between omhic(OH)and ECCD phases is considered and the experimental data have been corrected.The correction results show that the current drive efficiency η_(1)caused by the fast electron hot conductivity decreases by approximately 79%.It can be estimated that the driven current is approximately 24 kA at 300 kW ECW power.

Influence of the X-point location on edge plasma transport in the J-TEXT tokamak with a high-field-side single-null divertor

High-density experiments in the high-field-side mid-plane single-null divertor configuration have been performed for the first time on J-TEXT.The experiments show an increase in the highest central channel line-averaged density from 2.73×10^(19)m^(-3) to 6.49×10^(19)m^(-3),while the X-point moves away from the target by increasing the divertor coil current.The corresponding Greenwald fraction rises from 0.50 to 0.79.For the impurity transport,the density normalized radiation intensity(absolute extreme ultraviolet and soft x-ray)of the central channel density decreased significantly(>50%)with an increase in the plasma density.To better understand the underlying physics mechanisms,the 3 D edge Monte Carlo code coupled with EIRENE(EMC3-EIRENE)has been implemented for the first time on J-TEXT.The simulation results show good agreement with the experimental findings.As the X-point moves away from the target,the divertor power decay length drops and the scrape-off layer impurity screening effect is enhanced.