Investigations of plasma response associated with Resonant Magnetic Perturbation fields using perturbation method in KSTAR H-mode plasmas

The plasma response associated with the Resonant Magnetic Perturbation (RMP) field was investigated using the small edge perturbations induced by a modulated Supersonic Molecular Beam Injection (SMBI) in KSTAR. The modulated SMBI provides a time-varying perturbation of the plasma density source in the region just inside the last closed flux surface (LCFS) and a modulated flow damping rate. Radial propagation of the toroidal rotation perturbation induced by SMBI from the q=3 surface to the q=2 surface was observed. Theoretical analysis using the General Perturbed Equilibrium Code (GPEC) of the RMP intensity profiles of the RMP field is consistent with the phase profile of the toroidal rotation perturbation.

Numerical simulation of wave propagation and plasma response excited in field-reversed configuration plasma

A hybrid simulation (a model that treats ions as particles and electrons as fluid) is performed to analyse the propagation of waves excited in the field-reversed configuration plasma and the resulting plasma response. The current of the wave excitation antenna changes in a sine wave, and its frequency is set so that it has an ion cyclotron resonance point inside the separatrix. When the antenna current is maximum, a magnetic field with a magnitude of 40% of the external magnetic field is created on the separatrix. A toroidal magnetic field is excited in the plasma by applying waves. The observed propagation velocity of the toroidal magnetic field is comparable with the shear Alfvén wave outside the separatrix, and is on the same order within the separatrix. This result has a tendency similar to the propagation velocity outside the separatrix reported in the wave experiment in the past FIX machine. The simulation results also show that when the excited magnetic field propagates in the axial direction, the separatrix are compressed or expanded, and the high-density region of the ions formed thereby moves in the axial direction. In addition, the excited magnetic energy is rapidly decreased near the position where the velocities of the shear Alfvén wave and the ion sound wave are equal (local beta value is 0.88). It is found that the decay of the excited magnetic energy occurred at a point outside the ion cyclotron resonance point. This suggests that the compression and expansion of the plasma is caused while maintaining the quasi-equilibrium state according to the change in the external magnetic pressure.

Linear simulation of magnetohydrodynamic plasma response to three-dimensional magnetic perturbations in high-β P plasmas

We report the numerical analyses of linear magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) plasma response to applied three-dimensional magnetic perturbations (MPs) in a joint DIII-D/EAST collaboration on high-β_P (poloidal beta) plasmas, utilizing the extended-MHD code M3D-C1, with the purpose of realizing a better understanding of the existing experiment in which the n=3 MPs were applied to such high-β_P plasmas attempting to control large amplitude type-I ELMs. Such high-β_P plasmas obtained at the DIII-D tokamak feature an upper-biased double null configuration, a high edge safety factor q_95∼6.4, and a stable internal transport barrier (ITB) leading to relatively high core pressures. Single-fluid simulations show that the plasma response to n=3 MPs, including both non-resonant/kinking and resonant components, is significantly weaker than that to n=1 or 2 MPs. To survey the impact of q_95 on plasma response to applied MPs, the SEGWAY (Self-consistent Equilibrium Generating Workflow for AnalYsis) module, developed in the OMFIT integrated modelling framework, is employed to generate a series of equilibria with a wide range of q_95 while other key parameters including the normalized beta, electron density at pedestal top, and plasma shape are kept fixed. Compared to the vacuum response, single-fluid M3D-C1 simulations predict a much more significant decrease of resonant plasma response to the applied n=3 MPs at the maximum penetration radii as q_95 increases. In contrast to single-fluid simulation results showing resonant penetration occurs only near the pedestal top where the E×B toroidal rotation frequency is zero, two-fluid simulations show two comparable resonant penetrations locating near the pedestal top and the ITB foot, where the perpendicular electron rotation frequency is zero. Such resonant field penetration near the ITB foot may be responsible for the observed formation of a staircase structure in both electron density and temperature profiles and thereby a considerable deterioration of global plasma performance when MPs are applied in high-β_P plasmas. Motivated by this numerical work, we provide some ideas for the future research, with the purpose of realizing effective ELM control in such high-β_P plasmas on the DIII-D and EAST devices.