It is shown that the radial profile of the electron temperature in the Globus-M2 spherical tokamak is related to the radial profile of the electron density by a power law
. An analytical model of the ...density attractor, assuming the dependence of
on the specific poloidal volume
v
, previously tested on the TCV and JET tokamaks with a large aspect ratio, holds on the spherical tokamak, and the approximation of 162 experimental profiles has resulted in
. The proposed model makes it possible to calculate the spatial distribution
and
according to a known magnetic configuration.
The engineering part of the GLOBSYS code is presented, and the parameters of the Globus-3 facility, which is a development of the Globus program, are analyzed. The facility is primarily designed to ...provide a long pulse, a large toroidal magnetic field and strong heating. The concepts of searching for Globus-3 parameters under physical and engineering limitations are described. Obviously that reliable confinement and a large part of noninductive current are necessary to ensure existence of a plasma for a long time. Engineering constraints are involved in the choice of parameters in a more complex way: in some cases, it is overheating of the coils, in other cases, it is the total power supply, or the limit on the flux provided by the ohmic solenoid, or the strength of the constructions. The parameters of the Globus-3 spherical tokamak were preliminarily selected for the cases of a “warm” copper EMS (Electromagnetic system) and the EMS precooled to liquid nitrogen temperature. The exceeding of the duration of the plasma current plateau Δ
t
plateau
over the characteristic settling time of the plasma profiles τ
L
/
R
was chosen as the key condition. At values of the toroidal magnetic field
B
t
0
= 3 T, the condition Δ
t
plateau
> τ
L
/
R
cannot be attained even for precooled EMS. At
B
t
0
= 2 T, only options with precooled EMS can be considered acceptable, but the facility dimensions are fairly large. For the field
B
t
0
= 1.5 T, the options with “warm” EMS correspond to the duration of the plasma current plateau ~3 s (Δ
t
plateau
/τ
L
/
R
~ 1–1.5). In the case of precooled EMS, the duration of the plateau can increase to 12–13 s (Δ
t
plateau
/τ
L
/
R
~ 5). In the latter case, as a basis for further development of the Globus-3 facility, options with the following geometric dimensions are reasonable:
R
0
~ 0.6–0.7 m,
a
~ 0.35–0.4 m,
А
≤ 1.7–1.8,
k
95
~ 1.7–1.8. The minimum allowable value of the plasma current
under the condition of effective absorption of the input power of neutral injection has been calculated. In the Globus-3 facility,
I
p
≈ 0.8 MA was chosen as the base value.
Ion temperature is one of the most important parameters of high-temperature plasma. Information on the ion temperature spatial distribution is necessary for understanding and modelling of particle ...and energy transport processes, evaluating the effectiveness of plasma heating system operation. Active spectroscopy also known as CXRS (Charge eXchange Recombination Spectroscopy) is a powerful diagnostic tool for measurements of local values of ion temperature, and is widely used in experiments with magnetic confinement of high-temperature plasma. Active spectroscopy diagnostics on the Globus-M tokamak utilizes a tangentially injected heating beam of neutrals (hydrogen or deuterium atoms). The CXRS-system setup is described. The results of ion temperature measurements for the last Globus-M experimental campaign before the machine shutdown and further upgrading to higher values of magnetic field and plasma current are presented. Ion temperature significant rise in the experiments with moderate increasing of toroidal magnetic field and plasma current is detected and discussed.
The concept of next-generation spherical tokamak is being considered: the Globus-3 project, which, in its characteristics, is compatible with the infrastructure existing at the Ioffe Institute, but ...differs from the currently operating Globus-M2 tokamak in the stronger toroidal magnetic field (1.5–3.0 T) and increased duration of plasma discharge. The parametric analysis data are presented that determined the preliminary selection of the facility parameters. Three options for the electromagnetic system were considered: with the warm copper coils, with the pre-cooled copper coils and with the coils made of high-temperature superconductors. For the first option, the concept for designing the electromagnetic system and vacuum vessel of the facility has been developed. The basic shot scenario with duration of up to 3 s at the field of 1.5 T and plasma current of 0.8 MA is presented.
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.
NBI-assisted plasma heating with one or two injectors of fast neutral atoms was studied at the Globus-M2 spherical tokamak at the toroidal magnetic fields of 0.8–0.9 T and plasma currents of 0.35–0.4 ...MA. Measurements of the spatial temperature and electron density distributions, performed using the Thomson scattering diagnostics, showed a twofold increase in heating of plasma electrons during the injection of neutral particles with energies of up to 45 keV at the beam power of 0.75 MW, as compared to the ohmic heating regime. Switching on the second additional beam with the particle energy of up to 30 keV and power of up to 0.5 MW resulted in obtaining the hot ion mode in the range of mean plasma densities of (1.6–10) × 10
19
m
−3
. According to the data of active spectroscopy and neutral particle analyzer diagnostics, in the hot zone, the ion temperature reached 4 keV at the plasma density of 8 × 10
19
m
−3
, which is more than 2.5 times higher than the electron temperature.
The paper is devoted to the IPM-2 ion source ion-optical system preparation for the plasma heating experiments with a neutral beam in the Globus-M2 spherical tokamak. Within the framework of this ...work, a complete renovation of the ion-optical system of the ion source was carried out, including its assembly, adjustment, and testing. To assess the quality of the work performed, measurements were made of the main electrical parameters of the high-energy beam, its energy spectrum and signals from secondary emission probes. Based on the data obtained, the beam power distribution profile and its characteristic dimensions are reconstructed, and the relative concentrations of the energy components of the beam are calculated.
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.
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.