Simulations of the microtearing instability developing in plasma of the Globus-M spherical tokamak were performed using the GENE gyrokinetic code in the flux-tube linear approximation mode. Under the ...effect of the instability, the magnetic islands form on the scale of the ion Larmor radius, and the magnetic field fluctuations occur that generate electron heat fluxes. The ion heat fluxes as well as the fluxes associated with the electrostatic fluctuations are negligible. The maximum growth rate of the microtearing instability is reached at a collision frequency within the experimental range of the collision frequency variation, within which the BT × τE ∝ ν*−0.4±0.1 scaling calculations were performed 1. In similar calculations performed at the MAST tokamak, the growth rate decreases with decreasing collisionality in the entire range of the collision frequency variation, within which the BT × τE ∝ ν*−0.82 scaling calculations were performed 2. This can explain why the dependences of energy confinement time on the collision frequency obtained for the MAST&NSTX and the Globus-M tokamaks are different.
The Globus-M2 spherical tokamak is the considerably upgraded Globus-M facility. Its technical parameters were increased as much as possible to achieve the promising range of physical parameters ...(sub-fusion temperatures and collisionality of much less than unity). These parameters will be achieved in a compact magnetic configuration similar to that of the Globus-M tokamak, the plasma current and toroidal magnetic field amounting to 0.5 MA and 1 T, respectively. The demand to increase the magnetic field and plasma current in the Globus-M2 resulted in the need for a complete redesign of the electromagnetic system because the plasma equilibrium requirements have changed and the mechanical and thermal loads have considerably increased as compared to the Globus-M. The vacuum vessel and the in-vessel components of the new Globus-M2 tokamak remain the same. Power supplies were upgraded to provide the required currents in the toroidal field coil and the central solenoid. The Globus-M2 tokamak was build up and preliminary tests were carried out. New auxiliary heating systems and diagnostics were developed and installed to be used in future experiments. Fist plasma was achieved at the Globus-M2 in April 2018.
The high-confinement mode in tokamaks (H-mode) is characterized by high pressure gradients at plasma edge, which results in the appearance of edge localized modes (ELMs). They are studied at the ...Globus-M2 spherical tokamak too, where edge localized modes are observed mainly in regimes with neutral beam injection. One of the ways for studying ELMs is the use of the Doppler backscattering (DBS) diagnostics installed at Globus-M2. It makes possible to estimate the amplitude of plasma density fluctuations and measure the radial electric field
E
r
. In this work, the effect of edge localized modes on the
E
r
field is studied in the radial range 0.4 < ρ < 1.1. It is shown that during ELMs the electric field increases in the entire measurement range. This indicates that ELMs affect the inner plasma regions as well. This is not consistent with the general ideas concerning the peripheral localization of ELMs, but is confirmed experimentally not only at Globus-M2. In addition, the results for the regime with ELMs are compared with those for the regime with limit cycle oscillations (LCOs) and it is shown that during LCOs such effect is not observed.
Analysis of stability of the peeling-ballooning modes in the edge plasma of the Globus-M tokamak is presented. Studies were performed using the ideal 3D MHD code written in the BOUT++ framework. The ...edge localized modes which are frequently observed in the Globus-M plasma could be described using MHD theory. It was found that the parameters of the Globus-M edge plasma are in the range of stability for the peeling-ballooning modes. The instability modes with a toroidal number of n = 12 and typical distances between filaments of approximately ∼12 cm were found to be the most unstable. This statement agrees with the Doppler backscattering measurements. It was also considered whether the plasma in the Globus-M2 tokamak will be stable against the PB instability.
Among the peripheral instabilities observed at the Globus-M2 tokamak, two types of edge localized modes (ELMs) are brought into focus: ELMs synchronized and desynchronized with the sawtooth ...oscillations. The desynchronized ELMs appear in regimes that are characterized by high values of pressure in the pedestal,
p
ped
≥ 3 kPa, and they are observed in discharges with the toroidal magnetic field
B
T
> 0.6 T and plasma current
I
P
> 0.3 MA. The desynchronized ELMs belong to the type-III/V with the dominating effect of the peeling mode. The synchronized ELMs were observed in a wider range of discharge parameters, including at
B
T
< 0.6 T and
I
P
< 0.3 MA. Calculations of the stability of the peeling-ballooning (PB) mode showed that at pedestal width ψ
norm
= 0.09 and
p
ped
> 3.5 kPa, destabilization of PB modes is possible without additional influence. Experimental data shows that the microtearing mode plays a dominant role in the pedestal. The microtearing mode does not allow the pedestal at Globus-M2 tokamak to reach the state of the unstable kinetic ballooning mode (KBM), which explains the low predictive power of the EPED model at this tokamak.
Results of experimental studies of toroidal Alfvén eigenmodes (TAEs) in the Globus-M spherical tokamak (
R
= 36 cm,
a
= 24 cm) are reported. The experiments were carried out in a wide range of plasma ...parameters at a magnetic field of up to 0.5 T and plasma current of up to 250 kA. Auxiliary plasma heating was performed by tangential injection of a deuterium beam with a power of
P
b
= 0.75 MW and particle energy of
E
b
= 28 keV into deuterium plasma. The experiments have shown that the TAE-induced loss of fast particles decreases with increasing plasma current and magnetic field. Using multifrequency Doppler backscattering diagnostics, it is established that the TAEs are localized at the plasma periphery. Results of simulations of the Alfvén continuum and TAE structure by means of the modified KINX and CAXE codes agree satisfactory with the experimental data on the TAE frequencies and localization.
The results of experiments are described, which were performed at the Globus-M2 tokamak and aimed at studying the fast ion loss at the outer tokamak wall due to fast ions interaction with the ...toroidal Alfvén eigenmodes. The local heating of carbon tiles was experimentally measured, and the corresponding heat flux was calculated. It was shown how simulations of the lost particle orbits can explain the characteristic features of the spatial map of wall heating. The flux of lost fast particles onto the wall was studied as a function of the instability amplitude. It has been demonstrated that the simulations predict similar dependence of the fast ion flux on the instability amplitude and also correlate its nature to the peculiarities of fast ions spatial distribution.
Abstract
A new model for interaction between the internal reconnections caused by sawtooth and the edge-localized modes (ELM) was presented. The experimental evidence of the coupling between sawtooth ...crash and ELM events were observed in the Globus-M and Globus-M2 tokamaks. The numerical analysis of magnetic equilibrium showed that internal reconnections can induce the excess current density near the separatrix during the several hundreds of
μ
s. The excess current destabilizes the peeling-ballooning (PB) instability. The PB stability analysis showed that the penetration depth of the induced current should be in the range of
ψ
norm
= 0.8–0.95 to trigger the instability.
The results of measuring the electron temperature and density spatial distributions in plasma of the Globus-M2 tokamak using the Thomson scattering diagnostics are presented. The diagnostics provides ...measurements throughout the entire tokamak discharge, starting from time of gas breakdown. The Thomson scattering data were analyzed in order to determine the positions of the last closed flux surface, the plasma magnetic axis, and the radius of inversion during the saw-tooth oscillations. The results of measurements performed during the internal reconnection of magnetic field lines are presents, as well as the dynamics of spatial distributions of electron temperature, density and pressure during the plasma transition to the H-mode. The results of measuring the electron temperature distribution in the scrape-off layer using the Thomson scattering diagnostics are also presented for distances up to 4 cm outside the last closed flux surface.
Abstract
The current work reports on the significant rise of the fusion triple product in experiments carried out on the compact spherical tokamak (ST) Globus-M2 with a twofold increase in the ...toroidal magnetic field. A tenfold rise in the
n
.
T
.
τ
E
product was recorded during an increase in the magnetic field from 0.4 to 0.8 T and the plasma current from 0.25 to 0.4 MA at an unchanged auxiliary heating power value. Limited reasons may affect this positive trend, among which are energy confinement improvement and an increase in the efficiency of neutral beam heating. Despite the increase in the magnetic field, the neutral beam injection (NBI) led to clear and reproducible transition to the H-mode accompanied by a decrease in the turbulence level at the plasma edge. It was experimentally confirmed that strong dependence of the energy confinement time on the magnetic field value is conserved at a higher magnetic field approaching 0.8 T. Enhancement of energy confinement is connected to a collisionality (
ν
*
) decrease. While for conventional tokamaks the confinement dependence on collisionality becomes weaker with decreasing
ν
*
dependence, in the ST, in contrast, we observe its strengthening.
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