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The operation of the most promising concept for the future fusion rector, tokamak, relies on the generation of plasma current. Traditionally, this is created by magnetic induction which makes the tokamak operation pulsed. With electro-magnetic waves, in th ...

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

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

With the very high electron cyclotron (EC) wave power density achieved in the TCV tokamak, more than 20 MW m(-3), quasilinear modelling predicts an electron cyclotron current drive (ECCD) efficiency well in excess to the experimental value, by up to a factor of 10. Experimentally, radial transport of suprathermal electrons consistent with a diffusion coefficient larger than 1.5 m(2) s(-1) has been observed. This implies that the radial transport time is of the same order as the electron deflection time, sug

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

Deposition of electron cyclotron waves at high-power densities for heating and current drive in a tokamak plasma generates a population of fast electrons and therefore the velocity distribution of the electron population will deviate from a Maxwellian. Apa ...

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

Measurements of electron cyclotron emission (ECE) from the high field side of the TCV tokamak have been made on plasmas heated by second and third harmonic X-mode electron cyclotron heating (ECH) and electron cyclotron current drive (ECCD). Suprathermal ECE, up to a factor of six in excess of thermal emission, is detected in the presence of second harmonic X-mode (X2) ECCD and of third harmonic X-mode (X3) ECH. The measured ECE spectra are modelled using a bi-Maxwellian describing the bulk and the suprather

Current profile tailoring has been performed by application of electron cyclotron heating (ECH) and electron cyclotron current drive, leading to improved energy confinement in the plasma core of the TCV tokamak. The improved confinement is characterized by a substantial enhancement (H-factor) of the global electron energy confinement time relative to the prediction of the RLW scaling law (Rebut P H et al 1989 Proc. 12th Int. Conf. of Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion Research (Nice, 1988) vol 2 (Vienna:

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

Clear evidence is reported for the first time of a rapid localized reduction of core electron energy diffusivity during the formation of an electron internal-transport barrier. The transition occurs rapidly (similar or equal to3 ms), during a slow (similar or equal to200 ms) self-inductive evolution of the magnetic shear. This crucial observation, and the correlation of the transition with the time and location of the magnetic shear reversal, lend support to models attributing the reduced transport to the l

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 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

Sawtooth inversion radii and profile peaking factors of a large variety of ohmic and ECH heated L mode plasmas, including, elongations up to 2.6 and triangularities between -0.5 and 0.75, have been investigated in the TCV tokamak. In ohmic plasmas, normalized inversion radii and electron temperature profile peaking factors (corrected for sawtoothing effects) depend solely on the parameter (j)/q(0)j(0), irrespective of plasma shape. With ECH this parameter remains the main scaling parameter. Density profiles

The effect of plasma shaping (triangularity and elongation) on sawtooth stability is addressed as well as the technique of current profile broadening using off-axis ECH to enlarge the operational range towards higher elongations. The plasma shape strongly influences the sawtooth period and amplitude. This effect is emphasized by ECH, with the sawtooth period becoming shorter at low triangularity or at high elongation; for these plasma shapes, the pressure profile inside the q = 1 surface remains essentially

Fully noninductive, steady-state electron cyclotron current drive (ECCD) has been demonstrated for the first time in experiments carried out in the tokamak a configuration variable (TCV) [O. Sauter , Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 3322 (2000)]. By appropriately distributing six 0.45 MW ECCD sources over the discharge cross section, fully noninductive, stable, and stationary plasmas with I-p up to 210 kA were obtained for the full discharge duration of 1.9 s, corresponding to more than 900 energy confinement times and

The rapid formation of an electron internal transport barrier (eITB) is observed during a slow evolution (similar or equal to 200 ms) from a centrally peaked to a hollow current density profile, while all external actuators remain constant. The time consta ...

Space-charge effects (so-called negative-mass instability) as the reason for electron energy spread arising in the region of the electron drift between the cathode and the cavity of a gyrotron are discussed. Theoretical calculations are compared with results of measurements performed at Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe.

Electron cyclotron current drive (ECCD) is an important prospective tool for tailoring the current profile in nextstep devices. To fill the remaining gaps between ECCD theory and experiment, especially in the efficiency and localization of current drive, a better understanding of the physics of suprathermal electrons appears necessary. In TCV the fast electron population is diagnosed by a multichordal, spectrometric hard x-ray camera and by a highfield side electron cyclotron emission radiometer. The main m

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The effect of electron transport on electron cyclotron current drive in tokamak plasmas

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

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

Modelling of the electron cyclotron current drive experiments in the TCV tokamak

ECH physics and new operational regimes on TCV

Influence of non-Maxwellian velocity distributions during ECRH and ECCD on electron temperature measurements by Thomson scattering

Overview of TCV results

Stability and energy confinement of highly elongated plasmas in TCV

High field side measurements of non-thermal electron cyclotron emission on TCV plasmas with ECH and ECCD

Control of electron internal transport barriers in TCV

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

Rapid and localized electron internal-transport-barrier formation during shear inversion in fully noninductive TCV discharges

An overview of results from the TCV tokamak

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

Shape dependence of sawtooth inversion radii and profile peaking factors in TCV L mode plasmas

Plasma shape effects on sawtooth/internal kink stability and plasma shaping using electron cyclotron wave current profile tailoring in TCV

Steady-state fully noninductive operation with electron cyclotron current drive and current profile control in the tokamak a configuration variable (TCV)

Rapid electron internal transport barrier formation during magnetic shear reversal in fully non-inductive TCV discharges

On the negative-mass instability in gyrotrons

Electron cyclotron current drive and suprathermal electron dynamics in the TCV tokamak