Akihiro Shimizu

The effects of misalignment of modular coils on various physical properties in the Chinese first quasi-axisymmetric Stellarator (CFQS) are discussed in this study. To estimate the effects quantitatively, simple assumptions are made regarding the structure of coil displacement. We consider the following three cases: displacement in radial direction (Case A), displacement in the vertical direction (Case B), and displacement by tilting (Case C). In all cases, we assume that the displacement structure has a stellarator symmetry. These assumptions are employed to calculate the change in the magnetic surfaces, rotational transform profile, magnetic well depth profile, and the effective helical ripple. Calculation results show that if the magnitude of displacement is less than 10 mm, the effects on these physical properties are small, and the good neoclassical transport property is retained.

In neutral fluids and plasmas, the analysis of perturbations often starts with an inventory of linearly unstable modes. Then, the nonlinear steady-state is analyzed or predicted based on these linear modes. A crude analogy would be to base the study of a chair on how it responds to infinitesimaly small perturbations. One would conclude that the chair is stable at all frequencies, and cannot fall down. Of course, a chair falls down if subjected to finite-amplitude perturbations. Similarly, waves and wave-like structures in neutral fluids and plasmas can be triggered even though they are linearly stable. These subcritical instabilities are dormant until an interaction, a drive, a forcing, or random noise pushes their amplitude above some threshold. Investigating their onset conditions requires nonlinear calculations. Subcritical instabilities are ubiquitous in neutral fluids and plasmas. In plasmas, subcritical instabilities have been investigated based on analytical models and numerical simulations since the 1960s. More recently, they have been measured in laboratory and space plasmas, albeit not always directly. The topic could benefit from the much longer and richer history of subcritical instability and transition to subcritical turbulence in neutral fluids. In this tutorial introduction, we describe the fundamental aspects of subcritical instabilities in plasmas, based on systems of increasing complexity, from simple examples of a point-mass in a potential well or a box on a table, to turbulence and instabilities in neutral fluids, and finally, to modern applications in magnetized toroidal fusion plasmas.

Two-dimensional potential profiles in the Large Helical Device (LHD) were measured with heavy ion beam probe (HIBP). To measure the two-dimensional profile, the probe beam energy has to be changed. However, this task is not easy, because the beam transport line of LHD-HIBP system is very long (∼20 m), and the required beam adjustment consumes much time. To reduce the probe beam energy adjustment time, an automatic beam adjustment system has been developed. Using this system, required time to change the probe beam energy is dramatically reduced, such that two-dimensional potential profiles were able to be successfully measured with HIBP by changing the probe beam energy shot to shot.

The heavy ion beam probe system in the Large Helical Device (LHD) was improved as follows. At first, the additional new sweeper was installed into the diagnostic port to extend the observable region. By using this sweeper, the potential profile was measured in a wider minor radius range than in previous experiments, in the case of outward shifted magnetic configuration of LHD. Next, the real time control system was installed to control the probe beam orbit for measuring the potential in plasma with large plasma current. In this system, a digital signal processor was used to control the probe beam in real time. The system worked well in the fixed position observation mode. In the sweeping mode for profile measurement, this control system became unstable. The details of this system and the experimental results are reported in this article.

The article proposes a method of magnetic fluctuation measurement using a heavy ion beam probe (HIBP) in an axisymmetric torus configuration. The method is based on the detection of the toroidal position (not velocity) of the secondary beam in the analyzer. However, the method needs careful consideration with respect to path integral fluctuations along the probing beam orbit to evaluate local magnetic fluctuation, similarly to density fluctuation measurements with a HIBP. Here, we present an analytic formula to estimate and calculate the path integral effects for different fluctuation patterns in the profile, the correlation length, the radial wavelength, and the poloidal mode number. As a result, it is found that a large distance between the plasma and the detector lessens the importance of the path integral effect, and that local fluctuation of the magnetic field can be properly detected with a HIBP.