Complete stabilization of neoclassical tearing modes with lower hybrid current drive on COMPASS-D. RF teams

C D Warrick; R J Buttery; G Cunningham; S J Fielding; T C Hender; B Lloyd; A W Morris; M R O'Brien; T Pinfold; K Stammers; M Valovic; M Walsh; H R Wilson

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.85.574

Complete stabilization of neoclassical tearing modes with lower hybrid current drive on COMPASS-D. RF teams

Phys Rev Lett. 2000 Jul 17;85(3):574-7. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.85.574.

Authors

C D Warrick¹, R J Buttery, G Cunningham, S J Fielding, T C Hender, B Lloyd, A W Morris, M R O'Brien, T Pinfold, K Stammers, M Valovic, M Walsh, H R Wilson

Affiliation

¹ EURATOM/UKAEA Fusion Association, Culham Science Centre, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, OX14 3DB, United Kingdom.

PMID: 10991343
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.85.574

Abstract

Lower hybrid current drive (LHCD) with modest powers ( approximately 10% of the total power input) has been used for the first time to completely stabilize performance limiting neoclassical tearing modes in many COMPASS-D tokamak discharges. The stabilizing effect in these experiments is consistent with a reduction in the free energy available in the current profile to drive tearing modes (i.e., the stability index, delta(')) resulting from favorable current gradients (from the LHCD driven current) around the rational surface.