Development of a helicon-wave excited plasma facility with high magnetic field for plasma-wall interactions studies

The high magnetic field helicon experiment system is a helicon wave plasma（HWP）source device in a high axial magnetic field（B0）developed for plasma–wall interactions studies for fusion reactors.This HWP was realized at low pressure（5×10^-3-10 Pa）and a RF（radio frequency,13.56 MHz）power（maximum power of 2 k W）using an internal right helical antenna（5 cm in diameter by 18 cm long）with a maximum B0of 6300 G.Ar HWP with electron density～10^18–10^20m^-3 and electron temperature～4–7 e V was produced at high B0 of 5100 G,with an RF power of 1500 W.Maximum Ar^＋ion flux of 7.8×10^23m^-2s^-1 with a bright blue core plasma was obtained at a high B0 of 2700 G and an RF power of 1500 W without bias.Plasma energy and mass spectrometer studies indicate that Ar^＋ ion-beams of 40.1 eV are formed,which are supersonic（～3.1cs）.The effect of Ar HWP discharge cleaning on the wall conditioning are investigated by using the mass spectrometry.And the consequent plasma parameters will result in favorable wall conditioning with a removal rate of 1.1×10^24N2/m^2 h.

Development of plasma sources for Dipole Research EXperiment(DREX)

Dipole Research EXperiment（DREX） is a new terrella device as part of the Space Plasma Environment Research Facility（SPERF） for laboratory studies of space physics relevant to the inner magnetospheric plasmas. Adequate plasma sources are very important for DREX to achieve its scientific goals. According to different research requirements, there are two density regimes for DREX. The low density regime will be achieved by an electron cyclotron resonance（ECR） system for the ‘whistler/chorus＇ wave investigation, while the high density regime will be achieved by biased cold cathode discharge for the desired ‘Alfvén＇ wave study. The parameters of ‘whistler/chorus＇ waves and ‘Alfvén＇ waves are determined by the scaling law between space and laboratory plasmas in the current device. In this paper, the initial design of these two plasma sources for DREX is described. Focus is placed on the chosen frequency and operation mode of the ECR system which will produce relatively low density ‘artificial radiation belt＇ plasmas and the seed electrons, followed by the design of biased cold cathode discharge to generate plasma with high density.

Adaptive Grids in Simulations of Toroidal Plasma Starting from Magneto-Hydrodynamic Equilibrium

This paper introduces the notion of Tokamak Magneto-Hydrodynamics （TMHD）, which explicitly reflects the anisotropy of a high temperature tokamak plasma. The set of TMHD equations is formulated for simulation of macroscopic plasma dynamics and disruptions in tokamaks. Free from the Courant restriction on the time step, this set of equations is adequate to plasma dynamics with realistic parameters of high performance plasmas and does not require any extension of the MHD plasma model. At the same time, TMHD requires the use of magnetic field aligned numerical grids. Examples of their use in 2-dimensional cases of tokamak equilibria and dynamics of the wall touching kink mode are presented. For the 3-dimensional case of an ergodic magnetic field, this paper introduces the reference magnetic coordinates as a practical algorithm for generating adaptive grids for TMHD.

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.

Optimizing beam transport in rapidly compressing beams on the neutralized drift compression experiment-II

The Neutralized Drift Compression Experiment-II(NDCX-II)is an induction linac that generates intense pulses of 1.2 MeV helium ions for heating matter to extreme conditions.Here,we present recent results on optimizing beam transport.The NDCX-II beamline includes a 1-m-long drift section downstream of the last transport solenoid,which is filled with charge-neutralizing plasma that enables rapid longitudinal compression of an intense ion beam against space-charge forces.The transport section on NDCX-II consists of 28 solenoids.Finding optimal field settings for a group of solenoids requires knowledge of the envelope parameters of the beam.Imaging the beam on the scintillator gives the radius of the beam,but the envelope angle is not measured directly.We demonstrate how the parameters of the beam envelope(radius,envelop angle,and emittance)can be reconstructed from a series of images taken by varying the B-field strengths of a solenoid upstream of the scintillator.We use this technique to evaluate emittance at several points in the NDCX-II beamline and for optimizing the trajectory of the beam at the entry of the plasma-filled drift section.

Design of Tokamak ELM Coil Support in High Nuclear Heat Environment

In Tokomak, the support of the ELM coil, which is close to the plasma and subject to high radiation level, high temperature and high magnetic field, is used to transport and bear the thermal load due to thermal expansion and the alternating electromagnetic force generated by high magnetic field and AC current in the coil. According to the feature of ITER ELM coil, the mechanical performance of rigid and flexible supports under different high nuclear heat levels is studied. Results show that flexible supports have more excellent performance in high nuclear heat condition than rigid supports. Concerning thermal and electromagnetic （EM） loads, optimized results further prove that flexible supports have better mechanical performance than rigid ones. Through these studies, reasonable support design can be provided for the ELM coils or similar coils in Tokamak based on the nuclear heat level.

Test of a High Throughput Detector on the X-ray Crystal Spectrometer of the EAST

An attempt was made to improve the spatio-temporal resolution of the tangen- tial X-ray crystal spectrometer （XCS） on the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak （EAST） by evaluating experimentally the applicability of a novel X-ray photon detection tech- nology for measuring the satellite spectra of Ar XVII with a high counting rate. High-resolution experimental data on the profiles of ion temperature and plasma rotation velocity facilitate the studies of the mechanisms underlining important physical phenomena, such as plasma heating, L-H transition and momentum transport. Based on silicon diode array and single-photon counting technology, a relatively small area （83.8 x 33.5 mm~） two-dimensional detector was successfully in- stalled and tested in the recent EAST campaign. X-ray photon counting rate higher than 20 MHz was observed for the first time, and high quality satellite spectra were recorded for ion temperature and plasma rotation measurement, indicating that the new technology is suitable for the next-step high-resolution XCS on EAST, and the deployment of a detector array with a much larger X-ray sensing area is planned for better plasma coverage.

Power Balance Estimation in Long Duration Discharges on QUEST

Fully non-inductive plasma start-up was successfully achieved by using a well- controlled microwave source on the spherical tokamak, QUEST. Non-inductive plasmas were maintained for approximately 3-5 min, during which time power balance estimates could be achieved by monitoring wall and cooling-water temperatures. Approximately 70%-90% of the injected power could be accounted for by calorimetric measurements and approximately half of the injected power was found to be deposited on the vessel wall, which is slightly dependent on the magnetic configuration. The power distribution to water-cooled limiters, which are expected to be exposed to local heat loads, depends significantly on the magnetic configuration, however some of the deposited power is due to energetic electrons, which have large poloidal orbits and are likely to be deposited on the plasma facing components.

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.

Model Reduction by Generalized Falk Method for Efficient Dedicated to Professor Karl Stark Pister for his 95th birthday Field-Circuit Simulations

The Generalized Falk Method(GFM)for coordinate transformation,together with two model-reduction strategies based on this method,are presented for efficient coupled field-circuit simulations.Each model-reduction strategy is based on a decision to retain specific linearly-independent vectors,called trial vectors,to construct a vector basis for coordinate transformation.The reduced-order models are guaranteed to be stable and passive since the GFM is a congruence transformation of originally symmetric positive definite systems.We also show that,unlike the Pade-via-Lanczos(PVL)method,the GFM does not generate unstable positive poles while reducing the order´of circuit problems.Further,the proposed GFM is also faster when compared to methods of the type Lanczos(or Krylov)that are already widely used in circuit simulations for electrothermal and electromagnetic problems.The concept of response participation factors is introduced for the selection of the trial vectors in the proposed model-reduction methods.Further,we present methods to develop simple equivalent circuit networks for the field component of the overall field-circuit system.The implementation of these equivalent circuit networks in circuit simulators is discussed.With the proposed model-reduction strategies,significant improvement on the efficiency of the generalized Falk method is illustrated for coupled field-circuit problems.

Analysis of D_α(H_α) spectrum emitted in front of the limiter in HT-7

In order to understand the recycling and emission processes of hydrogen atoms in HT 7, spectral profiles of the Dα（Hα） line emitted in front of the limiter have been observed with a high-resolution spectrometer and simulated by using the neutral particle transport code DEGAS 2. The results show that four processes are necessary to interpret the Dα（Hα） line shape： 1） atom desorption, 2） molecular dissociation, 3） particle reflection, and 4） charge-exchange. The products of the first two processes are cold atoms which emit photons near the peak of Dα（Hα） line shape, and those from the last two are warm atoms contributing to the blue side of the spectrum. For a typical ohmic discharge （shot 68520 ne（0） ≈ 3× 10^19 m^-3. these components contribute 32%, 15%, 32% and 21%, respectively. Dα（Hα） line shapes under different plasma parameters are also discussed in this paper.

Line identification of boron and nitrogen emissions in extreme-and vacuumultraviolet wavelength ranges in the impurity powder dropping experiments of the Large Helical Device and its application to spectroscopic diagnostics

An impurity powder dropper was installed in the 21 st campaign of the Large Helical Device experiment(Oct.2019–Feb.2020)under a collaboration between the National Institute for Fusion Science and the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory for the purposes of real-time wall conditioning and edge plasma control.In order to assess the effective injection of the impurity powders,spectroscopic diagnostics were applied to observe line emission from the injected impurity.Thus,extreme-ultraviolet(EUV)and vacuum-ultraviolet(VUV)emission spectra were analyzed to summarize observable impurity lines with B and BN powder injection.Emission lines released from B and N ions were identified in the EUV wavelength range of 5–300Ameasured using two grazing incidence flat-field EUV spectrometers and in the VUV wavelength range of 300–2400Ameasured using three normal incidence 20 cm VUV spectrometers.BI–BV and NIII–NVII emission lines were identified in the discharges with the B and BN powder injection,respectively.Useful B and N emission lines which have large intensities and are isolated from other lines were successfully identified as follows:BI(1825.89,1826.40)A(blended),BII 1362.46A,BIII(677.00,677.14,677.16)A(blended),BIV 60.31A,BV 48.59A,NIII(989.79,991.51,991.58)A(blended),NIV765.15A,NV(209.27,209.31)A(blended),NVI 1896.80A,and NVII 24.78A.Applications of the line identifications to the advanced spectroscopic diagnostics were demonstrated,such as the vertical profile measurements for the BV and NVII lines using a space-resolved EUV spectrometer and the ion temperature measurement for the BII line using a normal incidence 3 m VUV spectrometer.

Global and Kinetic MHD Simulation by the Gpic-MHD Code

In order to implement large-scale and high-beta tokamak simulation, a new algorithm of the electromagnetic gyrokinetic PIC （particle-in-cell） code was proposed and installed on the Gpic-MHD code [Gyrokinetic PIC code for magnetohydrodynamic （MHD） simulation]. In the new algorithm, the vorticity equation and the generalized Ohm＇s law along the magnetic field are derived from the basic equations of the gyrokinetic Vlasov, Poisson, and Ampere system and are used to describe the spatio-temporal evolution of the field quantities of the electrostatic potential φ and the longitudinal component of the vector potential Az. The basic algorithm is equivalent to solving the reduced-MHD-type equations with kinetic corrections, in which MHD physics related to Alfven modes are well described. The estimation of perturbed electron pressure from particle dynamics is dominant, while the effects of other moments are negligible. Another advantage of the algorithm is that the longitudinal induced electric field, ETz = -δAz/δt, is explicitly estimated by the generalized Ohm＇s law and used in the equations of motion. Furthermore, the particle velocities along the magnetic field are used （vz-formulation） instead of generalized momentums （pz-formulation）, hence there is no problem of ＇cancellation＇, which would otherwise appear when Az is estimated from the Ampere＇s law in the pz-formulation. The successful simulation of the collisionless internal kink mode by the new Gpic-MHD with realistic values of the large-scale and high-beta tokamaks revealed the usefulness of the new algorithm.

Effects of resonant magnetic perturbations on radial electric fields in DIII-D tokamak

Gyrokinetic simulations of DIII-D tokamak equilibrium find that resonant magnetic perturbation(RMP)drives a neoclassical non-ambipolar electron particle flux,which causes a rapid change of equilibrium radial electric fields consistent with experimental observations during the suppression of the edge localized mode(ELM).The simulation results provide a support for the conjecture that RMP-induced changes of radial electric fields lead to the enhanced turbulent transport at the pedestal top during the ELM suppression(Taimourzadeh et al 2019 Nucl.Fusion59046005).Furthermore,gyrokinetic simulations of collisionless damping of zonal flows show that resonant responses to the RMP decrease the residual level of the zonal flows and damp the geodesic acoustic mode.

Discovering exact,gauge-invariant,local energy–momentum conservation laws for the electromagnetic gyrokinetic system by high-order field theory on heterogeneous manifolds

Gyrokinetic theory is arguably the most important tool for numerical studies of transport physics in magnetized plasmas.However,exact local energy–momentum conservation laws for the electromagnetic gyrokinetic system have not been found despite continuous effort.Without such local conservation laws,energy and momentum can be instantaneously transported across spacetime,which is unphysical and casts doubt on the validity of numerical simulations based on the gyrokinetic theory.The standard Noether procedure for deriving conservation laws from corresponding symmetries does not apply to gyrokinetic systems because the gyrocenters and electromagnetic field reside on different manifolds.To overcome this difficulty,we develop a high-order field theory on heterogeneous manifolds for classical particle-field systems and apply it to derive exact,local conservation laws,in particular the energy–momentum conservation laws,for the electromagnetic gyrokinetic system.A weak Euler–Lagrange(EL)equation is established to replace the standard EL equation for the particles.It is discovered that an induced weak EL current enters the local conservation laws,and it is the new physics captured by the high-order field theory on heterogeneous manifolds.A recently developed gauge-symmetrization method for high-order electromagnetic field theories using the electromagnetic displacement-potential tensor is applied to render the derived energy–momentum conservation laws electromagnetic gauge-invariant.

Verification of Gyrokinetic Particle of Turbulent Simulation of Device Size Scaling Transport

Verification and historical perspective are presented on the gyrokinetic particle simulations that discovered the device size scaling of turbulent transport and indentified the geometry model as the source of the long-standing disagreement between gyrokinetic particle and continuum simulations.

Magnetic Configuration Effects on Fast Ion Losses Induced by Fast Ion Driven Toroidal Alfvén Eigenmodes in the Large Helical Device

Beam-ion losses induced by fast-ion-driven toroidal Alfven eigenmodes （TAE） were measured with a scintillator-based lost fast-ion probe （SLIP） in the large helical device （LHD）. The SLIP gave simultaneously the energy E and the pitch angle X=arccos（v///v） distribution of the lost fast ions. The loss fluxes were investigated for three typical magnetic configurations of Rax-vac=3.60 m, 3.75 m. and 3.90 m, where Rax-vac is the magnetic axis position of the vacuum field. Dominant losses induced by TAEs in these three configurations were observed in the E/X regions of 50-190 keV/40°, 40-170 keV/25°, and 30-190 keV/30°, respectively. Lost-ion fluxes induced by TAEs depend clearly on the amplitude of TAE magnetic fluctuations, Rax-vac and the toroidal field strength Bt. The increment of the loss fluxes has the dependence of （bTAE/Bt）s. The power s increases from s = 1 to 3 with the increase of the magnetic axis position in finite beta plasmas.

A New Method for Measurements of the Poloidal Rotation Velocities and Wavelength Calibration of X-ray Imaging Crystal Spectrometer in Magnetic Fusion Devices

A new simple method is presented for the wavelength calibration and measurement of poloidal rotation velocities with X-ray imaging crystal spectrometer（XICS）in magnetic fusion devices.In this method,the toroidal rotation of plasma is applied for high precise alignment and wavelength calibration of the poloidal XICS.The measurement threshold of poloidal rotation velocity can be lowered to 1-3 km/s with this method.

Comparative study of boron and neon injections on divertor heat fluxes using SOLPS-ITER simulations

Based on the EAST equilibrium,the effects of boron(B)and neon(Ne)injected at different locations on the target heat load,and the distributions of B and Ne particles were investigated by transport code SOLPS-ITER.It was found that the B injection was more sensitive to the injection location for heat flux control than impurity Ne.The high electron and ion densities near the inner target in the discharge with impurity B injected from over X-point(R_(1))led to plasma detachment only at the inner target,and the localized B ions in the cases with injection from outer target location(R_(2))and upstream location(R_(3))led to far-SOL detachment at the outer target,but not at the inner target.In contrast,for Ne,the spatial distributions of Ne ions and electrons were found to be similar in all the cases at the three injection locations,and the detached plasma was achieved at the inner target and the electron temperature was reduced at the outer target.For locations R_(2) and R_(3),impurity B showed a more pronounced effect on the heat flux at the far-SOL of the outer target.Further analysis indicated that Ne atoms came mainly from the recycling sources,whereas B atoms came mainly from injection,and that their distinct atomic distributions resulted from the difference in the ionization threshold and ionization mean free path.In addition,the radiation proportion of B in the divertor region was larger than that of Ne when the total radiation power was similar,which suggests that B has less influence on the core region.