Comparison of Edge Turbulence Imaging at Two Different Poloidal Locations in the Scrape-off Layer of Alcator C-Mod

Comparison of Edge Turbulence Imaging at Two Different Poloidal Locations in the Scrape-off Layer of Alcator C-Mod
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Release: 2013
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This paper describes 2-D imaging measurements of plasma turbulence made in the scrape-off layer of the Alcator C-Mod tokamak simultaneously at two different poloidal locations, one near the outer midplane and the other near the divertor X-point region. These images were made with radial and poloidal resolution using two gas puff imaging (GPI) diagnostics, which were not directly connected along a B field line. The turbulence correlation structure has a significantly different tilt angle with respect to the local flux surfaces for the midplane and X-regions, and a slightly different ellipticity and size. The time-averaged turbulence velocities can be different in the midplane and Xregions, even within the same flux surface in the same shot, and in most cases the fluctuations in poloidal velocity in these two regions were not correlated. These structures are partially consistent with a magnetic flux tube mapping model, and the velocities are compared with various poloidal flow models.

Turbulence and Transport Studies with Phase Contrast Imaging in the Alcator C-Mod Tokamak and Comparisons with Gyrokinetic Simulations

Turbulence and Transport Studies with Phase Contrast Imaging in the Alcator C-Mod Tokamak and Comparisons with Gyrokinetic Simulations
Author: Liang Lin (Ph. D.)
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Total Pages: 189
Release: 2009
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(cont.) Our study shows that although the short wavelength turbulence in the ETG range is unstable in the linear ohmic regime, the nonlinear simulation with k[theta][rho]s up to 4 does not raise the electron thermal diffusivity to the experimental level, where k[theta] is the poloidal wavenumber and [rho]s is the ion-sound Larmor radius. The H-Mode studies focus on plasmas before and during internal transport barrier formation in an enhanced D[alpha], H-Mode plasma. The simulated fluctuations from GYRO agree with experimental measurements in the ITG regime. GYRO also shows good agreement in transport predictions with experimental measurements after reducing the ion temperature gradient (~15%) and adding ExB shear suppression, all within the experimental uncertainty.

Edge Zonal Flows and Blob Propagation in Alcator C-Mod

Edge Zonal Flows and Blob Propagation in Alcator C-Mod
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Release: 2011
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Here we describe recent measurements of the 2-D motion of turbulence in the edge and scrape-off layer (SOL) of the Alcator C-Mod tokamak. This data was taken using the outer midplane gas puff imaging (GPI) camera, which views a 6 cm radial by 6 cm poloidal region near the separatrix just below the outer midplane [1]. The data were taken in Ohmic or RF heated L-mode plasmas at 400,000 frames/sec for ≈50 msec/shot using a Phantom 710 camera in a 64 x 64 pixel format. The resulting 2-D vs. time movies [2] can resolve the structure and motion of the turbulence on a spatial scale covering 0.3-6 cm. The images were analyzed using either a 2-D cross-correlation code (Sec. 2) or a 2-D blob tracking code (Sec. 3).

Neutral Transport Simulations of Gas Puff Imaging Experiments on Alcator C-Mod

Neutral Transport Simulations of Gas Puff Imaging Experiments on Alcator C-Mod
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Release: 2002
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Visible imaging of gas puffs has been used on the Alcator C-Mod tokamak to characterize edge plasma turbulence, yielding data that can be compared with plasma turbulence codes. Simulations of these experiments with the DEGAS 2 Monte Carlo neutral transport code have been carried out to explore the relationship between the plasma fluctuations and the observed light emission. By imposing two-dimensional modulations on the measured time-average plasma density and temperature profiles, we demonstrate that the spatial structure of the emission cloud reflects that of the underlying turbulence. However, the photon emission rate depends on the plasma density and temperature in a complicated way, and no simple scheme for inferring the plasma parameters directly from the light emission patterns is apparent. The simulations indicate that excited atoms generated by molecular dissociation are a significant source of photons, further complicating interpretation of the gas puff imaging results. Visibl e imaging of gas puffs has been used on the Alcator C-Mod tokamak to characterize edge plasma turbulence, yielding data that can be compared with plasma turbulence codes. Simulations of these experiments with the DEGAS 2 Monte Carlo neutral transport code have been carried out to explore the relationship between the plasma fluctuations and the observed light emission. By imposing two-dimensional modulations on the measured time-average plasma density and temperature profiles, we demonstrate that the spatial structure of the emission cloud reflects that of the underlying turbulence. However, the photon emission rate depends on the plasma density and temperature in a complicated way, and no simple scheme for inferring the plasma parameters directly from the light emission patterns is apparent. The simulations indicate that excited atoms generated by molecular dissociation are a significant source of photons, further complicating interpretation of the gas puff imaging results.

Turbulence and Transport Measurements in Alcator C-Mod and Comparisons with Gyrokinetic Simulations

Turbulence and Transport Measurements in Alcator C-Mod and Comparisons with Gyrokinetic Simulations
Author: Paul Chappell Ennever
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Total Pages: 139
Release: 2016
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Turbulence in tokamak plasmas is the primary means by which energy is transported from the core of the plasma to the edge, where it is lost, and is therefore the main limitation of tokamak plasma performance. Dilution of the main-ion species was found to have a stabilizing effect on ion gyroradius scale turbulence in tokamak plasmas. Dilution of deuterium tokamak plasmas is the reduction of the ratio of the deuterium ion density to the electron density, nD=ne, to less than 1.0 through the introduction of low-Z impurity species into the plasma. Controlled dilution experiments were performed on Alcator C-Mod wherein plasmas at a range of electron density and plasma current were seeded with nitrogen while a cryopump held the electron density fixed. The electron density fluctuations due to turbulence were monitored using a phase contrast imaging (PCI) diagnostic, an absolutely calibrated diagnostic that measures the line-integral of the electron density fluctuations along 32 vertical chords. In these experiments the seeding reduced the PCI density fluctuations, and had a stabilizing effect on the ion energy transport. The seeding also reversed the direction of intrinsic rotation in certain cases. Nonlinear simulations using the gyrokinetic turbulence code GYRO were performed using measured kinetic profiles from the dilution experiments both before and after the nitrogen seeding. The GYRO simulations reproduced the observed reduction in the turbulent ion energy transport with the nitrogen seeding. The GYRO simulated turbulent density fluctuations were compared to the PCI measurements using a synthetic diagnostic, and they were found to be consistent. GYRO simulations were also performed varying only the main ion dilution to explore the theoretical effects of the dilution on energy transport. Through this it was found that the dilution reduced the turbulent ion energy transport in a wide variety of cases, but primarily increased the critical gradient at low densities, and primarily reduced the stiffness of the transport at high densities. This dilution effect is related to observations of reductions in energy transport from seeding on other tokamaks, and will likely have an impact on ITER and future fusion reactors.

Phase Contrast Imaging on the Alcator C-Mod Tokamak

Phase Contrast Imaging on the Alcator C-Mod Tokamak
Author: Alexander Mazurenko
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Total Pages: 320
Release: 2001
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Phase Contrast Imaging (PCI) is a new diagnostic that was built for the Alcator C-Mod tokamak. It measures line-integrated (along 12 vertical chords) plasma density perturbations with good temporal (2-500 kHz) and wavenumber (0.5-12 /cm) resolution. The Quasi-Coherent (QC) fluctuation mode was studied using the PCI and other diagnostics. The mode was found to cause fluctuation of density, electric and magnetic field in the plasma edge with typical frequency of 100 kHz and typical poloidal wavenumber of about 5/cm. The mode was found to be responsible for confinement properties of the "Enhanced D-alpha H-mode" (a particularly favorable regime of tokamak operation). Through numerical modeling, the physical origin of the fluctuations was tentatively identified as "resistive X-point" mode (a kind of resistive ballooning mode strongly affected by the X-point configuration of magnetic field lines). The PCI system has been upgraded to detect waves in the ion cyclotron range of frequencies (ICRF, 40-80 MHz) by means of optical heterodyning - a technique based on modulation of the diagnostic laser beam near the wave frequency. The upgraded system was then used to study propagation of the Fast Magnetosonic Waves. These waves, which have never been measured in detail in past experiments, are being used to heat the tokamak plasma at the megawatt power level. The measured results were compared to the simple cold-plasma dispersion relation and to predictions of the full-wave 3D numerical modeling.