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.

Identification of the magnetic island structure in the HL-2A tokamak

The identification of the magnetic island structure in the HL-2A tokamak is presented. First, the perturbation current as a source for the perturbation flux can be determined by using Mirnov probe measurements. By superposing the perturbation flux and the equilibrium flux reconnected by equilibrium fitting, the structure and the width of the magnetic islands can be estimated. The method has been used in the HL-2A experiments.

Discrete Alfvn eigenmodes in international thermonuclear experimental reactor operations with negative magnetic shear

Discrete Alfven eigenmodes in steady-state operation scenarios with negative magnetic shear in the international thermonuclear experimental reactor are investigated in this paper. These magnetohydrodynamic eigenmodes are trapped by the s-induced potential wells along the magnetic field line. Here α = -q2Rdβ/dr with q being the safety factor, the ratio between plasma and magnetic pressures, and R the major radius, and r the minor radius. Due to negligible continuum damping via wave energy tunneling, these Alfven eigenmodes could be readily destabilized by energetic particles.