Driving Toroidally Asymmetric Current Through the Tokamak Scrape-off Layer, Part I

Download or read book Driving Toroidally Asymmetric Current Through the Tokamak Scrape-off Layer, Part I written by and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 43 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A potential technique for suppressing edge localized magnetohydrodynamic instabilities (ELMs) is theoretically analyzed. Recent experiments have shown that externally generated resonant magnetic perturbations (RMPs) can stabilize ELMs by modifying the density profile [T.E. Evans, et al., Nature Phys. 2, 419 (2006); Y. Liang, et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 265004 (2007)]. Driving toroidally asymmetric current internally, through the scrape-off layer (SOL) plasma itself, can also generate RMPs that are close to the required threshold for ELM control. The limiting ion saturation current densities can be achieved by producing potential differences on the order of the electron temperature. Although the threshold is uncertain in future devices, if driven coherently though the SOL, the upper limit for the resulting field would exceed the present experimental threshold. This analysis provides the tools required for estimating the magnitude of the coherent SOL current and RMP generated via toroidally asymmetric biasing of the target. Flux expansion increases the RMP near the X-point, while phase interference due to the shearing of field lines near the X-point reduces the amplitude of the effective SOL perturbation and makes the result sensitive to both toroidal mode number n and the radial coherence width of the biasing region. If the limiting current density decays rapidly enough radially, both the width and the amplitude of the current density drawn from the target will be reduced. The RMP can still exceed the present threshold at low n if the radial location and width of the biasing region are optimally chosen.