R. V. Budny D. R. Ernst T. S. Hahm D. C. McCune J. P. Christiansen et al.
The edge-localized, high-confinement mode regime is of interest for future Tokamak reactors since high performance has been sustained for long durations. Experiments in the Joint European Tokamak [M. Keilhacker et al. , Nuclear Fusion 39 , 209 (1999)] have studied this regime using scans with the toroidal field and plasma current varied together in…
PublishedR. A. Cairns C. N. Lashmore-Davies
Electron Bernstein waves are analyzed as possible candidates for heating spherical tokamaks. An inhomogeneous plane slab model of the plasma with a sheared magnetic field is used to calculate the linear conversion of the ordinary mode (O-mode) to the extraordinary mode (X-mode). A formula for the fraction of the incident O-mode energy which is conv…
PublishedJ. B. Taylor
Relaxation is the result of turbulence in a plasma that behaves essentially as an ideal conducting fluid, but has a small resistivity and viscosity. These small effects are locally enhanced by the turbulence and lead to reconnection of magnetic field lines. This destroys an infinity of topological constraints, leaving only the total magnetic helici…
PublishedH. R. Wilson R. L. Miller
The peeling mode restricts access to the second stability region of the ideal ballooning mode at the tokamak plasma edge. Using a two-dimensional, high toroidal mode number eigenmode code employing a model tokamak equilibrium, it is shown that a window to second stability exists for a sufficiently deep magnetic well. The different mode structures o…
PublishedS. C. Chapman R. O. Dendy G. Rowlands
There is increasing evidence that the Earth’s magnetosphere, like other macroscopic confined plasma systems (magnetic fusion plasmas, astrophysical accretion discs), displays sandpile-type phenomenology so that energy dissipation is by means of avalanches which do not have an intrinsic scale. This may in turn imply that these systems evolve via s…
PublishedH. R. Wilson J. W. Connor A. R. Field S. J. Fielding R. L. Miller et al.
The ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) stability of the tokamak edge is analyzed, with particular emphasis on radially localized instabilities; it is proposed that these are responsible for edge pressure gradient limits and edge localized modes (ELMS). Data and stability calculations from DIII-D [to appear in Proceedings of the 16th International Conf…
PublishedP. Helander S. C. Chapman R. O. Dendy G. Rowlands N. W. Watkins
A simple one-dimensional sandpile model is constructed which possesses exact analytical solvability while displaying both scale-free behavior and fractal properties. The sandpile grows by avalanching on all scales, yet its shape and energy content are described by a simple, continuous (but nowhere differentiable) analytical formula. The avalanche e…
PublishedF. X. Söldner B. Alper Yu. F. Baranov A. Bickley A. Bondeson et al.
RF heating and current drive with ion cyclotron waves and Lower Hybrid waves have been crucial for the development of the Optimized Shear scenario on JET to high performance. Peaked electron temperature profiles and improved energy confinement could be obtained with electron heating both from LHCD and ICRH during plasma current ramp up. ICRH and NB…
PublishedD. C. Mcdonald R. A. Cairns C. N. Lashmore-Davies G. Le Clair
Detailed ray tracing, of wave propagation in a plasma near electron cyclotron resonances, suggests that refraction can lead to reduced absorption, in some cases. By studying the full wave equation for the ordinary wave near the fundamental, in a slab model, it is shown that such refraction does indeed reduce absorption, for this particular case, bu…
Published