Real-time plasma equilibrium reconstruction and shape control for the MAST Upgrade tokamak
A real-time plasma magnetic equilibrium controller has been developed to aid in the precise control of advanced configurations such as double-null, super-X, X-point target and X-divertor for the first time on the MAST Upgrade (MAST-U) tokamak. Successful real-time magnetic equilibrium control of different plasma shape control variables during the 2022-2023 MAST-U experimental campaign for the advanced MAST-U divertor configurations is reported in the paper. The paper also presents the application and comparison of the MAST-U boundary reconstruction algorithm, LEMUR, against off-line equilibrium reconstruction and diagnostic measurements. The process of design and verification of the axisymmetric magnetic control schemes using a suite of control analysis tools (known collectively as TokSys) is also described.