Frequency multiplication with toroidal mode number of kink/fishbone modes on a static HL-2A-like tokamak

In the presence of energetic particles (EPs), the long-lived mode (LLM) frequency multiplication with n = 1, 2, 3, or higher is often observed on HL-2A, where n is the toroidal mode number. Hybrid kinetic-MHD model simulations of the energetic particle (EP) driven kink/fishbone modes on a static HL-2A-like tokamak using NIMROD code find that when the background plasma pressure is relatively high, and the EP pressure and the beam energy are relatively low, the mode frequency increases almost linearly with EP pressure, and the frequency is proportional to n ('frequency multiplication'), even in the absence of any equilibrium plasma rotation. In addition, the frequency multiplication persists as the safety factor at the magnetic axis q0 varies. In the absence of EPs, the growth rate of the 1/1 mode is the largest; however, as the EP pressure increases, the growth rate of 2/2 modes or 3/3 modes becomes dominant, suggesting that higher-n modes are more vulnerable to EPs. These results may shed light on the understanding of the toroidal mode number dependence of kink/fishbone modes in the advanced scenarios of tokamaks with weak or reversed central magnetic shear.     

Study on divertor heat flux under n = 3 and n = 4 resonant magnetic perturbations using infrared thermography diagnostic in EAST

Resonant magnetic perturbations (RMPs) with high toroidal mode number n are considered for controlling edge-localized modes (ELMs) and divertor heat flux in future ITER H-mode operations. In this paper, characteristics of divertor heat flux under high-n RMPs (n = 3 and 4) in H-mode plasma are investigated using newly upgraded infrared thermography diagnostic in EAST. Additional splitting strike point (SSP) accompanying with ELM suppression is observed under both RMPs with n = 3 and n = 4, the SSP in heat flux profile agrees qualitatively with the modeled magnetic footprint. Although RMPs suppress ELMs, they increase the stationary heat flux during ELM suppression. The dependence of heat flux on ${q}_{95}$ during ELM suppression is preliminarily investigated, and further splitting in the original strike point is observed at ${q}_{95}=4$ during ELM suppression. In terms of ELM pulses, the presence of RMPs shows little influence on transient heat flux distribution.     

Observation of the poloidally asymmetrical density perturbation of sawtooth collapse on J-TEXT

The detailed density perturbations provided by the advanced polarimeter–interferometer system (Polaris) during sawtooth collapse on the Joint Texas Experimental Tokamak (J-TEXT) are reported in this article. During a sawtooth collapse and the crash of plasma pressure at the center, it is found that the increase in density in the region between the inversion radius and mixing radius is poloidally asymmetrical, while the increase in temperature is poloidally symmetrical. The poloidal location where the density increases is dependent on the phase of the precursory m/n = 1/1 kink mode. It is always out of phase with the hot core of the m/n = 1/1 mode. The behaviors of density perturbations during sawtooth collapse observed in J-TEXT are beyond the expectations of the standard model, and this can shed new light on the understanding of sawtooth collapse.     

The effects of dilution gas on nanoparticle growth in atmospheric-pressure acetylene microdischarges

A two-dimensional multi-fluid model is developed to investigate the effects of dilution gas on microplasma properties and nanoparticle behavior in atmospheric-pressure radio-frequency acetylene discharges. The percentage of dilution gases (argon and helium) percentage varied from 0% to 90%, with the pressure kept constant. Simulation results show that the dilution gas percentage has a significant influence on the spatial distributions of the electron density and temperature, as well as on the formation of nanoparticles in acetylene microplasmas. With increasing dilution gas percentage, the electron density profile changes continuously from being high at the edge to high in the center. A mode transition from a mixed discharge mode with both α regime and drift-ambipolar regime into α regime occurs, which is associated with a sudden decrease in the electron density of the presheaths and an increase in the electron temperature of the bulk plasma. The mode transition point corresponds to the lowest number density ratio of hydrocarbon ions to acetylene. The highest number density ratio is observed at a dilution percentage of 90%, and causes more effective nucleation and coagulation of nanoparticles. Furthermore, owing to the high ionization potential of helium, the transition point moves to a larger dilution gas percentage in ${{\rm{C}}}_{2}{{\rm{H}}}_{2}$/He microplasmas. Finally, the growth of nanoparticles via coagulation is studied.     

Measurement of Magnetic Island Width by Multi-Channel ECE Radiometer on HT-7 Tokamak

A 16-channel electron cyclotron emission (ECE) radiometer has been employed to observe the (m; n) = (2; 1) magnetic island structure on HT-7 tokamak, where m and n represent the poloidal and toroidal mode number respectively. The results indicate that the island width is about 7 cm when the magnetic island is saturated during the m=n = 2=1 mode. The location of resonance surface can be determined by plotting the contour of ECE relative fluctuation.This method could be applied to the HT-7 and EAST campaigns in the future for the research of neoclassical tearing modes (NTMs).     

Investigation of ion fishbone stability on HL-2A using NIMROD

Numerical calculations of resistive internal kink mode with effects of energetic particles (EPs) on HL-2A have been performed using the hybrid kinetic-MHD model inplemented in the NIMROD code. The m/n=1/1 resistive internal kink mode is unstable in MHD limit. However, with kinetic effects of energetic ions, a fishbone mode is excited with mode frequency around 10 kHz. We calculate the impact of resistivity on the growth rate and frequency of ion fishbone mode, and the results are in good agreement with the analytic solutions, which are obtained by solving the fishbone dispertion relation including resistivity effect. The effects of β_frac and cut off velocity of EP on fishbone mode are calculated in detail, where β_frac is the ratio of EP pressure to background plasma pressure. This work presents a clear explanation of the stabilizing effect of ECRH on ion fishbone, which is first observed on HL-2A.     

Linear hybrid simulations of low-frequency fishbone instability driven by energetic passing particles in tokamak plasmas

A linear simulation study of energetic passing particle-driven low-frequency fishbone instability in tokamak plasmas has been carried out using the global kinetic-MHD (magnetohydrodynamics) hybrid code M3D-K. This work is focused on the interaction of energetic passing beam ions andn=1 mode with a monotonic safety factorqprofile andSpecifically, the stability and mode frequency as well as mode structure of then=1 mode are calculated for scans of parameter values of beam ion beta, beam ion injection energy, beam ion orbit width, beam ion beta profile, as well as background plasma beta. The excited modes are identified as a low-frequency fishbone with the corresponding resonance ofwhereis the beam ion toroidal transit frequency andis the beam ion poloidal transit frequency. The simulated mode frequency is approximately proportional to the beam ion injection energy and beam ion orbit width. The mode structure is similar to that of internal kink mode. These simulation results are similar to the analytic theory of Yuet al.     

Behavior of multiple modes before and during minor disruption with the external resonant magnetic perturbations on J-TEXT tokamak

The behavior of multiple modes before and during minor disruption with the external resonant magnetic perturbations (RMPs) has been studied on a J-TEXT tokamak. The main component of RMPs is m/n = 2/1, where m and n are the numbers of the poloidal and toroidal modes, respectively. During the mode-locking caused by RMPs, it is found that before a minor or a major disruption (if there is no minor disruption), strong oscillations in both electron temperature and density occur if the edge safety factor q_a > 3. The analysis shows that the oscillations are caused by the m/n = 3/1 mode. In addition, using the ECE, Mirnov coils and 2D electron cyclotron emission imaging diagnostic systems, it is found that a thermal collapse occurs on the inner side of the 2/1 magnetic island during the minor disruption, and before the collapse, a 3/2 island increases, after the collapse, the 3/2 island may disappear. Moreover, the study also shows that these 3/1, 2/1 and 3/2 modes play roles in the thermal collapse of disruptions.     

Sawtooth-like oscillations and steady states caused by the m/n = 2/1 double tearing mode

The sawtooth-like oscillations resulting from thedouble tearing mode (DTM) are numerically investigated through the three-dimensional, toroidal, nonlinear resistive-MHD code (CLT). We find that the nonlinear evolution of theDTM can lead to sawtooth-like oscillations, which are similar to those driven by the kink mode. The perpendicular thermal conductivity and the external heating rate can significantly alter the behaviors of the DTM driven sawtooth-like oscillations. With a high perpendicular thermal conductivity, the system quickly evolves into a steady state withmagnetic islands and helical flow. However, with a low perpendicular thermal conductivity, the system tends to exhibit sawtooth-like oscillations. With a sufficiently high or low heating rate, the system exhibits sawtooth-like oscillations, while with an intermediate heating rate, the system quickly evolves into a steady state. At the steady state, there exist the non-axisymmetric magnetic field and strong radial flow, and both are with helicity ofLike the steady state withradial flow, which is beneficial for preventing the helium ash accumulation in the core, the steady state withradial flow might also be a good candidate for the advanced steady state operations in future fusion reactors. We also find that the behaviors of the sawtooth-like oscillations are almost independent of tokamak geometry, which implies that the steady state with saturatedislands might exist in different tokamaks.     

Observation of filament-like structures in ELMy H-mode plasma with a VUV imaging system developed on the EAST tokamak

On the EAST tokamak, filament-like structures have been observed in ELMy H-mode discharges with a high-speed vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) imaging system. The topos, chronos and their weight can be obtained simultaneously by performing the so-called singular value decomposition (SVD) analysis of raw VUV imaging data. The fluctuation amplitude is observed to be suppressed and enhanced gradually in the edge localized mode (ELM) crash and pedestal recovery phase in the chronos, respectively, while filament-like structures can only be found in the pedestal recovery phase on the topos. The mode structure, i.e. m/n=36/9 (m and n are the poloidal and toroidal mode number, respectively) with ρ₀=0.95, w₀=0.07 (ρ₀and w₀ denote the mode location and mode width, respectively) is derived by a comparison of the synthetic images and the experimental imaging data.     

托卡马克等离子体中快粒子触发的高频鱼骨模不稳定性研究

本文考虑托卡马克等离子体中快粒子的空间密度分布剖面,在中性束及电子回旋共振加热的条件下,建立了研究鱼骨模的色散关系并对鱼骨模作了数值研究。结果表明:快粒子对内扭曲模有致稳作用,且在近轴加热条件下可激发高频鱼骨模,其频率与快粒子的环向进动频率一致。鱼骨模的增长率与快粒子的密度梯度有关,一般随密度梯度的增加而增大。在高比压区间,勉强通行快粒子可驱动鱼骨模进入第二稳定区,在该区域鱼骨模是稳定的。     

Stability analysis of Alfvén eigenmodes in China Fusion Engineering Test Reactor fully non-inductive and hybrid mode scenarios

In this paper, NOVA/NOVA-K codes are used to investigate the stability of Alfvén eigenmodes(AEs) in the China Fusion Engineering Test Reactor(CFETR). Firstly, the stability of AEs excited by energetic alpha particles is investigated. For the fully non-inductive scenario, it is found that all AEs are stable, and the least stable toroidal mode number is n= 8. However, for the hybrid mode scenario, it is found that many AEs are unstable, and the least stable toroidal mode numbers are n= 7, 8. Secondly, the effect of energetic alpha-particle parameters and beam ions on AE stability is also presented. The threshold of the least stable AE is about β_(crit,α) = 1.12%,crit,less than the value of alpha-particle beta(β_α=1.34%). The result demonstrates that the AEs excited by alpha particles are weakly unstable. The effect of the beam ions on AE stability is found to be very weak in CFETR.     

Interaction between energetic-ions and internal kink modes in a weak shear tokamak plasma

Based on the conventional tokamak HL-2A-like parameters and profiles, the linear properties and the nonlinear dynamics of non-resonant kink mode (NRK) and non-resonant fishbone instability (NRFB) in reversed shear tokamak plasmas are investigated by using the global hybrid kinetic-magnetohydrodynamic nonlinear code M3D-K. This work mainly focuses on the effect of passing energetic-ions on the NRK and NRFB instabilities, which is different from the previous works. It is demonstrated that the NRFB can be destabilized by the passing energetic-ions when the energetic-ion beta β_h exceeds a critical value. The transition from NRK to NRFB occurs when the energetic-ion beta β_h increases to above a critical value. The resonance condition responsible for the excitation of NRFB is interestingly found to be satisfied at ωt + ω_p ≈ ω, where ωt is the toroidal motion frequency, ω_p is the poloidal motion frequency and ω is the mode frequency. The nonlinear evolutions of NRFB's mode structures and Poincaré plots are also analyzed in this work and it is found that the NRFB can induce evident energetic-ion loss/redistribution, which can degrade the performance of the plasmas. These findings are conducive to understanding the mechanisms of NRFB induced energetic-ion loss/redistribution through nonlinear wave-particle interaction.     

Suppression and mitigation of inter-ELM high-frequency Alfvén-like mode by resonant magnetic perturbation in EAST

Suppression and mitigation of a high-frequency Alfvén-like mode(HFAM) between type-I edge localized modes(ELMs) during ELM mitigation by resonant magnetic perturbation(RMP) is observed for the first time in the EAST tokamak. This mode is located near the edge pedestal region. The modeling result of the Alfvén continuum shows that the HFAM is located near the elipical Alfvén eigenmode(EAE) gap. During the application of n=1 RMP for ELM mitigation, the HFAM can be fully suppressed when the RMP amplitude exceeds a threshold,below which the HFAM is mitigated. The suppression is caused by a reduction of pedestal height induced by RMP. In the case using n=3 RMP, the mode is localized toroidally at specific phase depending on the phase of applied RMP, i.e. locked in the three-dimensional equilibrium formed by RMP. The dominant toroidal mode number of HFAM is around n=-6 and it reduces to -3 during the application of n=3 RMP, which indicates the existence of possible nonlinear coupling between the HFAM and RMP. Here the negative mode number denotes that the mode rotates in electron diamagnetic drift direction. The observation reported here improves the understanding of pedestal dynamics and its stability in RMP ELM control.     

Nonlinear phase dynamics of ideal kink mode in the presence of shear flow

We investigate nonlinear phase dynamics of an ideal kink mode, induced by E × B flow. Here the phase is the cross phase(θ_c) between perturbed stream function of velocity■ and magnetic field ■, i.e. θ_c= θ_φ-θ_ψ. A dimensionless parameter, analogous to the Richardson number,■(γ_(kink): the normalized growth rate of the pure kink mode; ■: normalized E × B shearing rate) is defined to measure the competition between phase pinning by the current density and phase detuning by the flow shear. When R_i 1, θ_c is locked to a fixed value,corresponding to the conventional eigenmode solution. When R_i≤1, θ_c enters a phase slipping or oscillating state, corresponding to a nonmodal solution. The nonlinear phase dynamics method provides a more intuitive explanation of the complex dynamical behavior of the kink mode in the presence of E × B shear flow.     

Valley-dependent topological edge states in plasma photonic crystals

Plasma photonic crystals designed in this paper are composed of gas discharge tubes to control the flow of electromagnetic waves.The band structures calculated by the finite element method are consistent with the experimental results which have two distinct attenuation peaks in the ranges of 1-2.5 GHz and 5-6 GHz.Electromagnetic parameters of the plasma are extracted by the Nicolson-Ross-Weir method and effective medium theory.The measured electron density is between 1 × 10¹¹ cm^-...     

Multi-scale interaction between tearing modes and micro-turbulence in the HL-2A plasmas

The influence of m/n=2/1(m and n are poloidal and toroidal mode numbers) tearing modes on plasma perpendicular flows and micro-fluctuations has been investigated in HL-2 A neutral beam injection heated L-mode plasmas. It is found that the local perpendicular rotation velocity and turbulence energy are modulated by the alternation between the island X-point and O-point of the naturally rotating tearing modes. Cross-correlation analysis indicates that the modulation of density fluctuations by the tearing mode is not only limited to the island region, but also occurs in the edge region near the last closed flux surface. The turbulence exhibits distinct spectral characteristics inside and outside the island region. In addition, it is observed that the particle flux near the strike point is also significantly impacted by the tearing modes. The experimental evidence reveals that there are strong core-edge interactions between the core tearing modes and the edge transport.     

Experimental and numerical simulation study of the effect for the anode positions on the discharge characteristics of 300 W class low power Hall thrusters

Low-power Hall thruster(LHT) generally has poor discharge efficiency characteristics due to the large surface-to-volume ratio.Aiming to further refine and improve the performance of 300 W class LHT in terms of thrust and efficiency,and to obtain the most optimal operating point,the experimental study of the discharge characteristics for three different anode positions was conducted under the operation of various discharge voltages(100-400 V) and anode mass flow rates(0.65 mg·s^-1 and 0...     

Design of Thomson scattering diagnostic system on linear magnetized plasma device

In addition to the magnetic confinement fusion plasma, Thomson scattering has been applied to measure electron density and temperature of low-temperature plasmas. Based on a linear magnetized plasma device, a set of Thomson scattering diagnostic system is designed to diagnose the plasma with ${n}_{{\rm{e}}}={10}^{18}{\unicode{x02013}}{10}^{19}\,{{\rm{m}}}^{-3}$ and ${T}_{{\rm{e}}}=2{\unicode{x02013}}5$ eV. Due to low plasma temperature and density, this diagnostic system needs high spectral resolution and collection efficiency to meet the requirements of electron velocity distribution function measurements. Through the bench test, it is confirmed that the spectral resolution reaches 0.01 nm, and theoretical collection efficiency is high enough to obtain a Thomson scattering spectrum by 1000 accumulations.