Pierre-François Isoz

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The original TCV control system was designed in the late 1980s to be inherently network based in that all control operations were performed from X-windows terminals and the control computers were networked. Using VMS-VAX technology, the acquisition system (CAMAC) and control system (BITBUS) were connected to controllers situated in the machine bus of these machines that were linked homogeneously by the VMS 'cluster' technology. Although the computing power and network bandwidth have improved considerably ov

This paper presents experimental results on the accessibility and the properties of plasmas with improved confinement in TCV. First, the H-mode threshold power is measured in Ohmic plasmas. Above an Ohmic threshold density, the threshold power increases with the density. A lower threshold density is found when additional electron cyclotron heating (ECH) is applied. At these low densities, the threshold power increases dramatically with decreasing density. Only a small fraction of the wide operational domain

On the Tokamak a Configuration Variable (TCV), electron internal transport barriers (eITBs) can be formed during a gradual evolution from a centrally peaked to a hollow current profile while all external actuators are held constant. The formation occurs ra ...

Experiments with high-power electron cyclotron heating (ECH) and current drive (ECCD) in the TCV tokamak are discussed. Power up to 2.7 MW from six gyrotrons is delivered to the tokamak at the second-harmonic frequency (82.7 GHz) in X-mode. The power is transmitted to the plasma by six independent launchers, each equipped with steerable mirrors that allow a wide variety of injection angles in both the poloidal and toroidal directions. Fully non-inductive operation of the tokamak has been achieved in steady

The physics of tokamak plasmas, in which electrons are heated by electron cyclotron heating (ECH) and whose current is driven by electron cyclotron current drive (ECCD), is investigated in this paper together with applications on tokamak A configuration variable (TCV) using modifications of the pressure and current profiles to improve the operational regimes. In order to explain the experimentally determined current drive efficiency and hard x-ray and electron cyclotron emission measurements, it is shown th

Electron cyclotron emission (ECE) diagnostics on Tokamak a Configuration Variable (TCV) allow study of the electron temperature evolution in time with good spatial and temporal resolution at the high field side and low field side at various lines of sight. ...

Confinement in TCV electron cyclotron heated discharges was studied as a function of plasma shape, i.e. as a function of elongation, 1.1 < kappa < 2.15, and triangularity, -0.65 less than or equal to delta less than or equal to 0.55. The electron energy confinement time was found to increase with elongation, owing in part to the increase of plasma current with elongation. The beneficial effect of negative triangularities was most effective at low power and tended to decrease at the higher powers used. The l

The TCV tokamak has obtained ohmic H-modes in virtually all diverted plasmas with the ion del B drift directed towards an X-point and in several elongated limiter plasmas. Troyon factors (beta(tor)aB/l(p)) up to 2 and line average densities up to 2.2 x 10(20) m(-3), corresponding to the Greenwald limit, have been obtained in diverted ELM-free H-modes. Quasi-stationary H-modes lasting for the entire current flat top (1.5 s) have been obtained in the presence of regular ELMs. The occurrence and magnitude of E

The TCV tokamak (R = 0.88 in, a < 0.25 in, BT < 1.54 T) is equipped with six 0.5 MW gyrotron sources operating at 82.7 GHz for second harmonic X mode ECH. By distributing the ECCD current sources over the discharge cross section, fully driven stationary plasmas with I-p = 210 kA, n(e0) = 2 x 10(19) m(-3), T-e0 approximate to 4 keV, were obtained for the full discharge duration of 2 s. Highly peaked electron temperature profiles with T-e0 up to 12 keV were obtained in central counter-current drive scenarios

The operating space of the TCV tokamak has been extended to higher elongation, kappa = 2.8, and higher normalized current, I-N = I-p/aB = 3.6MA/mT, than were previously attainable. This has been achieved by optimizing the parameters of the vertical position control system and by optimizing the plasma shape. Experimental current and beta limits were found to be consistent with ideal MHD stability calculations, using measured plasma shapes and profiles. The sawtooth period was measured as a function of elonga

The TCV tokamak (B-T < 1.5 T, R approximate to 0.88 m, a < 0.25 m) has produced a wide variety of plasma configurations, both diverted and limited, with elongations kappa(a), ranging from 0.9 to 2.58, triangularities delta(a) from -0.7 to 1 as well as discharges with nearly rectangular cross sections. Plasma currents of 1 MA have been obtained in elongated discharges (kappa(a) approximate to 2.3). Ohmic discharges with delta(a) < 0 have smaller sawteeth and higher levels of MHD mode activity than plasmas wi

Growth rates of the axisymmetric instability of elongated plasmas in TCV are measured, in open loop configuration, for a wide variety of plasma shapes with elongations and triangularities in the ranges 1.3 < kappa < 2.2 and -0.3 < delta < 0.6, respectively, and for stability margins covering the range 1.03 < f < 1.60. In addition, the stability of the vertical position control system is investigated experimentally, under closed loop conditions, by varying the feedback gains and by measuring the oscillation

During the first two years of operation, the TCV tokamak has produced a large variety of plasma shapes and magnetic configurations, with 1.0 less than or equal to B-tor less than or equal to 1.46T, I-p less than or equal to 800kA, kappa less than or equal to 2.05, -0.7 less than or equal to delta less than or equal to 1. A new shape control algorithm, based on a finite element reconstruction of the plasma current in real time, has been implemented. Vertical growth rates up to 1000 s(-1) have been stabilized

EC RF power sources will play a major role in the future operation of large scale tokamaks (ITER, DEMO). A 1MW/170GHz gyrotron is the standard RF power unit considered for ITER. Even though the efficiency of such devices has been significantly increased th ...

A steady-state, fully noninductive plasma current has been sustained for the first time in a tokamak using electron cyclotron current drive only. In this discharge, 123 kA of current have been sustained for the entire gyrotron pulse duration of 2 s. Careful distribution across the plasma miner radius of the power deposited from three 0.5-MW gyrotrons was essential for reaching steady-state conditions. With central current drive, up to 153 kA of current have been fully replaced transiently for 100 ms. The no

This work reports developments of the incoherent TS diagnostic capabilities in the Tokamak a Configuration Variable (TCV). Their goals are to (i) diagnose the TCV divertor region, and (ii) provide Te and ne profiles of the plasma bulk in real-time. These t ...

The Tokamak Configuration Variable (TCV) tokamak (R = 0.88 m, a < 0.25 m, B < 1.54 T) programme is based on flexible plasma shaping and heating for studies of confinement, transport, control and power exhaust. Recent advances in fully sustained off-axis electron cyclotron current drive (ECCD) scenarios have allowed the creation of plasmas with high bootstrap fraction, steady-state reversed central shear and an electron internal transport barrier. High elongation plasmas, kappa = 2.5, are produced at low nor

In order to better study conventional and alternative divertor configurations, the TCV Tokamak was recently upgraded. In-vessel graphite baffles were installed in the TCV chamber to delimit a separate divertor chamber from the core that required enhanced d ...

In noninductively driven discharges, 0.9 MW second harmonic (X2) off-axis co-electron cyclotron current drive deposition is combined with 0.45 MW X2 central heating to create an electron internal transport barrier (eITB) in steady plasma conditions resulting in a 1.6-fold increase of the confinement time (tau(Ee)) over ITER-98L-mode scaling. The eITB is associated with a reversed shear current profile enhanced by a large bootstrap current fraction (up to 80%) and is sustained for up to 10 current redistribu

The general control of tokamak plasmas has evolved considerably over the past few years with an increase in the plasma pulse length, an increase in the control of additional heating and fueling, and an increase in the degree to which the shape of the plasma can be varied. The Tokamak Configuration Variable (TCV) is specifically designed to explore the operational benefits of plasma shaping over a wide variety of plasma shapes. Consequently, considerable attention has been given to the control of the poloida

Pierre-François Isoz

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Evolution not revolution in the TCV tokamak control and acquisition system

Accessibility and properties of ELMy H-mode and ITB plasmas in TCV

Safety factor profile requirements for electron ITB formation in TCV

High-power ECH and fully non-inductive operation with ECCD in the TCV tokamak

ECH physics and new operational regimes on TCV

Recent electron cyclotron emission results on TCV

Energy confinement and MHD activity in shaped TCV plasmas with localized electron cyclotron heating

Ohmic H-modes in the TCV tokamak

Overview of TCV results

Stability and energy confinement of highly elongated plasmas in TCV

Effect of plasma shape on confinement and MHD behaviour in TCV

Vertical position control in TCV: Comparison of model predictions with experimental results

Recent Results from the Tcv Tokamak

Homogenous power distribution along gyrotron collector walls

Steady-state fully noninductive current driven by electron cyclotron waves in a magnetically confined plasma

New capabilities of the incoherent Thomson scattering diagnostics in the TCV tokamak: divertor and real-time measurements

An overview of results from the TCV tokamak

Thomson scattering measurements in the divertor region of the TCV Tokamak plasmas

Recent results from the electron cyclotron heated plasmas in Tokamak à Configuration Variable (TCV)

The control of tokamak configuration variable plasmas