| 1. |
- Stroth, U., et al.
(författare)
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Progress from ASDEX Upgrade experiments in preparing the physics basis of ITER operation and DEMO scenario development
- 2022
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Ingår i: Nuclear Fusion. - : IOP Publishing. - 1741-4326 .- 0029-5515. ; 62:4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- An overview of recent results obtained at the tokamak ASDEX Upgrade (AUG) is given. A work flow for predictive profile modelling of AUG discharges was established which is able to reproduce experimental H-mode plasma profiles based on engineering parameters only. In the plasma center, theoretical predictions on plasma current redistribution by a dynamo effect were confirmed experimentally. For core transport, the stabilizing effect of fast ion distributions on turbulent transport is shown to be important to explain the core isotope effect and improves the description of hollow low-Z impurity profiles. The L-H power threshold of hydrogen plasmas is not affected by small helium admixtures and it increases continuously from the deuterium to the hydrogen level when the hydrogen concentration is raised from 0 to 100%. One focus of recent campaigns was the search for a fusion relevant integrated plasma scenario without large edge localised modes (ELMs). Results from six different ELM-free confinement regimes are compared with respect to reactor relevance: ELM suppression by magnetic perturbation coils could be attributed to toroidally asymmetric turbulent fluctuations in the vicinity of the separatrix. Stable improved confinement mode plasma phases with a detached inner divertor were obtained using a feedback control of the plasma β. The enhanced D α H-mode regime was extended to higher heating power by feedback controlled radiative cooling with argon. The quasi-coherent exhaust regime was developed into an integrated scenario at high heating power and energy confinement, with a detached divertor and without large ELMs. Small ELMs close to the separatrix lead to peeling-ballooning stability and quasi continuous power exhaust. Helium beam density fluctuation measurements confirm that transport close to the separatrix is important to achieve the different ELM-free regimes. Based on separatrix plasma parameters and interchange-drift-Alfvén turbulence, an analytic model was derived that reproduces the experimentally found important operational boundaries of the density limit and between L- and H-mode confinement. Feedback control for the X-point radiator (XPR) position was established as an important element for divertor detachment control. Stable and detached ELM-free phases with H-mode confinement quality were obtained when the XPR was moved 10 cm above the X-point. Investigations of the plasma in the future flexible snow-flake divertor of AUG by means of first SOLPS-ITER simulations with drifts activated predict beneficial detachment properties and the activation of an additional strike point by the drifts.
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| 2. |
- Meyer, H.F., et al.
(författare)
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Overview of physics studies on ASDEX Upgrade
- 2019
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Ingår i: Nuclear Fusion. - : IOP Publishing. - 1741-4326 .- 0029-5515. ; 59:11
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- The ASDEX Upgrade (AUG) programme, jointly run with the EUROfusion MST1 task force, continues to significantly enhance the physics base of ITER and DEMO. Here, the full tungsten wall is a key asset for extrapolating to future devices. The high overall heating power, flexible heating mix and comprehensive diagnostic set allows studies ranging from mimicking the scrape-off-layer and divertor conditions of ITER and DEMO at high density to fully non-inductive operation (q 95 = 5.5, ) at low density. Higher installed electron cyclotron resonance heating power 6 MW, new diagnostics and improved analysis techniques have further enhanced the capabilities of AUG. Stable high-density H-modes with MW m-1 with fully detached strike-points have been demonstrated. The ballooning instability close to the separatrix has been identified as a potential cause leading to the H-mode density limit and is also found to play an important role for the access to small edge-localized modes (ELMs). Density limit disruptions have been successfully avoided using a path-oriented approach to disruption handling and progress has been made in understanding the dissipation and avoidance of runaway electron beams. ELM suppression with resonant magnetic perturbations is now routinely achieved reaching transiently . This gives new insight into the field penetration physics, in particular with respect to plasma flows. Modelling agrees well with plasma response measurements and a helically localised ballooning structure observed prior to the ELM is evidence for the changed edge stability due to the magnetic perturbations. The impact of 3D perturbations on heat load patterns and fast-ion losses have been further elaborated. Progress has also been made in understanding the ELM cycle itself. Here, new fast measurements of and E r allow for inter ELM transport analysis confirming that E r is dominated by the diamagnetic term even for fast timescales. New analysis techniques allow detailed comparison of the ELM crash and are in good agreement with nonlinear MHD modelling. The observation of accelerated ions during the ELM crash can be seen as evidence for the reconnection during the ELM. As type-I ELMs (even mitigated) are likely not a viable operational regime in DEMO studies of 'natural' no ELM regimes have been extended. Stable I-modes up to have been characterised using -feedback. Core physics has been advanced by more detailed characterisation of the turbulence with new measurements such as the eddy tilt angle - measured for the first time - or the cross-phase angle of and fluctuations. These new data put strong constraints on gyro-kinetic turbulence modelling. In addition, carefully executed studies in different main species (H, D and He) and with different heating mixes highlight the importance of the collisional energy exchange for interpreting energy confinement. A new regime with a hollow profile now gives access to regimes mimicking aspects of burning plasma conditions and lead to nonlinear interactions of energetic particle modes despite the sub-Alfvénic beam energy. This will help to validate the fast-ion codes for predicting ITER and DEMO.
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| 3. |
- Garcia Carrasco, Alvaro, 1989-, et al.
(författare)
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Investigation of probe surfaces after ion cyclotron wall conditioning in ASDEX upgrade
- 2017
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Ingår i: NUCLEAR MATERIALS AND ENERGY. - : Elsevier. - 2352-1791. ; 12, s. 733-735
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- For the first time, material analysis techniques have been applied to study the effect of ion cyclotron wall conditioning (ICWC) on probe surfaces in a metal-wall machine. ICWC is a technique envisaged to contribute to the removal of fuel and impurities from the first wall of ITER. The objective of this work was to assess impurity migration under ICWC operation. Tungsten probes were exposed in ASDEX Upgrade to discharges in helium. After wall conditioning, the probes were covered with a co-deposited layer containing D, B, C, N, O and relatively high amount of He. The concentration ratio He/C+B was 0.7. The formation of the co-deposited layer indicates that a fraction of the impurities desorbed from the wall under ICWC operation are transported by plasma and deposited away from their original location.
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| 4. |
- Hakola, A., et al.
(författare)
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Plasma-wall interaction studies in the full-W ASDEX upgrade during helium plasma discharges
- 2017
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Ingår i: Nuclear Fusion. - : IOP PUBLISHING LTD. - 0029-5515 .- 1741-4326. ; 57:6
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Plasma-wall interactions have been studied in the full-W ASDEX Upgrade during its dedicated helium campaign. Relatively clean plasmas with a He content of > 80% could be obtained by applying ion cyclotron wall conditioning (ICWC) discharges upon changeover from D to He. However, co-deposited layers with significant amounts of He and D were measured on W samples exposed to ICWC plasmas at the low-field side (outer) midplane. This is a sign of local migration and accumulation of materials and residual fuel in regions shadowed from direct plasma exposure albeit globally D was removed from the vessel. When exposing W samples to ELMy H-mode helium plasmas in the outer strike-point region, no net erosion was observed but the surfaces had been covered with co-deposited layers mainly consisting of W, B, C, and D and being the thickest on rough and modified surfaces. This is different from the typical erosion-deposition patterns in D plasmas, where usually sharp net-erosion peaks surrounded by prominent net-deposition maxima for W are observed close to the strike point. Moreover, no clear signs of W nanostructure growth or destruction could be seen. The growth of deposited layers may impact the operation of future fusion reactors and is attributed to strong sources in the main chamber that under suitable conditions may switch the balance from net erosion into net deposition, even close to the strike points. In addition, the absence of noticeable chemical erosion in helium plasmas may have affected the thickness of the deposited layers. Retention of He, for its part, remained small and uniform throughout the strike-point region although our results indicate that samples with smooth surfaces can contain an order of magnitude less He than their rough counterparts.
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| 5. |
- Pelicon, P., et al.
(författare)
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Fuel retention study in fusion reactor walls by micro-NRA deuterium mapping
- 2011
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Ingår i: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B. - : Elsevier BV. - 0168-583X .- 1872-9584. ; 269:20, s. 2317-2321
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Nuclear Reaction Analysis (NRA) with a (3)He ion beam is a powerful analytical technique for analysis of light elements in thin films. The main motivation for 3He focused beam applications is lateral mapping of deuterium using the nuclear reaction D((3)He,p)(4)He in surfaces exposed to a tokamak plasma, where a lateral resolution in the pm-range provides unique information for fuel retention studies. At the microprobe at the Jozef Stefan Institute typical helium ion currents of 300 pA and beam dimensions of 4 x 4 mu m(2) can be obtained. This work is focused on micro-NRA studies of plasma-facing materials using a set-up consisting of a silicon partially depleted charge particle detector for NRA spectroscopy applied in parallel with a permanently installed X-ray detector, an RBS detector and a beam chopper for ion dose monitoring. A method for absolute deuterium quantification is described. In addition, plasma-deposited amorphous deuterated carbon thin films (a-C:D) with known D content were used as a reference. The method was used to study deuterium fuel retention in carbon fibre composite materials exposed to a deuterium plasma in the Tore Supra and TEXTOR tokamaks. The high lateral resolution of micro-NRA allowed us to make a detailed study of the influence of topography on the fuel retention process. We demonstrated that the surface topography plays a dominant role in the retention of deuterium. The deep surfaces inside the castellation gaps showed approximately two orders of magnitude lower deuterium concentrations than in areas close to the exposed surface.
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| 6. |
- Ström, Petter, et al.
(författare)
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Sputtering of polished EUROFER97 steel : Surface structure modification and enrichment with tungsten and tantalum
- 2018
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Ingår i: Journal of Nuclear Materials. - : Elsevier. - 0022-3115 .- 1873-4820. ; 508, s. 139-146
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Surface structure modification and enrichment with tungsten and tantalum were measured for polished EUROFER97 samples after exposure to a deuterium ion beam. Time-of-flight medium energy ion scattering and time-of-flight elastic recoil detection analysis were implemented for measuring atomic composition profiles. Atomic force microscopy and optical microscopy were used to investigate surface morphology. The deuterium particle fluence was varied between 1021 D/m2 and 1024 D/m2, projectile energy was 200 eV/D and exposure temperatures up to 1050 K were applied. The average fraction of tungsten plus tantalum to total metal content in the 2 nm closest to the sample surface was increased from an initial 0.0046 to 0.12 for the sample exposed to the highest fluence at room temperature. The enrichment was accompanied by an increase in surface roughness of one order of magnitude and grain dependent erosion of the material. The appearance of protrusions with heights up to approximately 40 nm after ion beam exposure at room temperature was observed on individual grains. Samples exposed to 1023 D/m2 at temperatures of 900 K and 1050 K displayed recrystallization and cracking while changes to the total surface fraction of tungsten and tantalum were limited to less than a factor of two compared to the sample exposed to the same fluence at room temperature.
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