Equilibrium evolution in oscillating-field current-drive experiments

Oscillating-field current drive (OFCD) is a proposed method of steady-state toroidal plasma sustainment in which ac poloidal and toroidal loop voltages are applied to produce a dc plasma current. OFCD is added to standard, inductively sustained reversed-field pinch plasmas in the Madison Symmetric T...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physics of plasmas 2010-08, Vol.17 (8), p.082506-082506-13
Main Authors: McCollam, K. J., Anderson, J. K., Blair, A. P., Craig, D., Den Hartog, D. J., Ebrahimi, F., O'Connell, R., Reusch, J. A., Sarff, J. S., Stephens, H. D., Stone, D. R., Brower, D. L., Deng, B. H., Ding, W. X.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
CLOSED PLASMA DEVICES
EQUILIBRIUM
FLUCTUATIONS
PINCH EFFECT
PLASMA
PLASMA DIAGNOSTICS
PLASMA SIMULATION
PLASMA WAVES
REVERSE-FIELD PINCH
SIMULATION
THERMONUCLEAR DEVICES
TOKAMAK DEVICES
VARIATIONS
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Oscillating-field current drive (OFCD) is a proposed method of steady-state toroidal plasma sustainment in which ac poloidal and toroidal loop voltages are applied to produce a dc plasma current. OFCD is added to standard, inductively sustained reversed-field pinch plasmas in the Madison Symmetric Torus [ R. N. Dexter , Fusion Technol. 19 , 131 ( 1991 ) ]. Equilibrium profiles and fluctuations during a single cycle are measured and analyzed for different relative phases between the two OFCD voltages and for OFCD off. For OFCD phases leading to the most added plasma current, the measured energy confinement is slightly better than that for OFCD off. By contrast, the phase of the maximum OFCD helicity-injection rate also has the maximum decay rate, which is ascribed to transport losses during discrete magnetic-fluctuation events induced by OFCD. Resistive-magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the experiments reproduce the observed phase dependence of the added current.
ISSN:1070-664X
1089-7674
DOI:10.1063/1.3461167