First evidence of dominant influence ofE B drifts on plasma cooling in an advanced slot divertor for tokamak power exhaust

X. Ma, H. Q. Wang, H. Y. Guo, P. C. Stangeby, E. T. Meier, M. W. Shafer, D. M. Thomas

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

18 Scopus citations

Abstract

Addressing power exhaust in tokamaks is presently recognized as one of the major remaining open issues for the development of fusion reactors. At the forefront of this endeavor is the effort to develop an advanced divertor by maximizing dissipation of plasma power and momentum inside the divertor. Here, we demonstrate, for the first time, that the electromagnetic ( E B ) drifts exert a key influence on plasma and gas dynamics in a new advanced slot divertor in the DIII-D tokamak, named the small angle slot (SAS). SAS leverages the effect of drifts to achieve a highly dissipative divertor with electron temperature T e ≲ 10 eV over a wide range of plasma densities, for ion B ∇ B away from the divertor, as used for advanced tokamak operation on DIII-D. Modeling with the SOLPS-ITER code shows that for this drift direction, the E B flow carries particles toward the outer common flux region (CFR) via the private flux region (PFR), reinforcing neutral recycling and enhancing divertor dissipation. In contrast, for the opposite field direction, the E B flow carries particles away from the outer CFR into the PFR, offsetting the anticipated SAS geometric effects. This finding is an important step in the understanding of the behavior of advanced divertors for achieving a power exhaust solution for fusion reactors.

Original languageEnglish
Article number054002
JournalNuclear Fusion
Volume61
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - May 2021

Funding

This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Fusion Energy Sciences, using the DIII-D National Fusion Facility, a DOE Office of Science user facility, under Award(s) DE-FC02-04ER54698.

Keywords

  • SOLPS-ITER
  • advanced divertor
  • drifts
  • tokamak

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