Higher fusion power gain with current and pressure profile control in strongly shaped DIII-D tokamak plasmas

E. A. Lazarus, G. A. Navratil, C. M. Greenfield, E. J. Strait, M. E. Austin, K. H. Burrell, T. A. Casper, D. R. Baker, J. C. DeBoo, E. J. Doyle, R. Durst, J. R. Ferron, C. B. Forest, P. Gohil, R. J. Groebner, W. W. Heidbrink, R. M. Hong, W. A. Houlberg, A. W. Howald, C. L. HsiehA. W. Hyatt, G. L. Jackson, J. Kim, L. L. Lao, C. J. Lasnier, A. W. Leonard, J. Lohr, R. J. La Haye, R. Maingi, R. L. Miller, M. Murakami, T. H. Osborne, L. J. Perkins, C. C. Petty, C. L. Rettig, T. L. Rhodes, B. W. Rice, S. A. Sabbagh, D. P. Schissel, J. T. Scoville, R. T. Snider, G. M. Staebler, B. W. Stallard, R. D. Stambaugh, H. E. St. John, R. E. Stockdale, P. L. Taylor, D. M. Thomas, A. D. Turnbull, M. R. Wade, R. Wood, D. Whyte

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Abstract

Fusion power has been increased by a factor of 3 in DIII-D by tailoring the pressure profile to avoid the kink instability in H-mode plasmas. The resulting plasmas are found to have neoclassical ion confinement. This reduction in transport losses in beam-heated plasmas with negative central shear is correlated with a dramatic reduction in density fluctuations. Improved magnetohydrodynamic stability is achieved by controlling the plasma pressure profile width. In deuterium plasmas the highest gain Q (the ratio of fusion power to input power), was 0.0015, corresponding to an equivalent Q of 0.32 in a deuterium-tritium plasma.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2714-2717
Number of pages4
JournalPhysical Review Letters
Volume77
Issue number13
DOIs
StatePublished - 1996
Externally publishedYes

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