Demonstration of effective control of fast-ion-stabilized sawteeth by electron-cyclotron current drive

Phys Rev Lett. 2009 Mar 20;102(11):115004. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.115004. Epub 2009 Mar 19.

Abstract

In a tokamak plasma, sawtooth oscillations in the central temperature, caused by a magnetohydrodynamic instability, can be partially stabilized by fast ions. The resulting less frequent sawtooth crashes can trigger unwanted magnetohydrodynamic activity. This Letter reports on experiments showing that modest electron-cyclotron current drive power, with the deposition positioned by feedback control of the injection angle, can reliably shorten the sawtooth period in the presence of ions with energies >or=0.5 MeV. Certain surprising elements of the results are evaluated qualitatively in terms of existing theory.