First experimental realization of robust negative triangularity plasma control in a spherical tokamak

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Abstract
In this work, we present the experimental realization of a plasma with a steady negative triangularity (NT) in a spherical tokamak (MAST-U) for the first time. An average triangularity of − 0.1 was maintained for 100 ms in a double-null plasma with a plasma current of 600 kA, a neutral beam injected power of 3.2 MW, a normalized β of 2, and an elongation of 2 on the MAST-U spherical tokamak. Despite many constraints, this was made possible due to the development of a dedicated plasma shape control scheme and the validation and assessment of magnetic shape controllers in simulations. This effort lays the foundation for physics exploitation of the NT plasma in a spherical tokamak.
Funding Information
  • European Commission (101052200 -EUROfusion)
  • General Atomics
  • U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Fusion Energy Sciences (DE-SC0018991)
  • Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/T012250/1)

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