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  4. Study of fast-ion-driven toroidal Alfvén eigenmodes impacting on the global confinement in TCV L-mode plasmas
 
research article

Study of fast-ion-driven toroidal Alfvén eigenmodes impacting on the global confinement in TCV L-mode plasmas

Mazzi, Samuele  
•
Vallar, Matteo  
•
Kumar, Umesh  
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2023
Frontiers in Physics

Following recent observations of unstable Toroidal Alfven Eigenmodes (TAEs) in a counter-current Neutral Beam Injection (NBI) scenario developed in TCV, an in-depth analysis of the impact of such modes on the global confinement and performance is carried out. The study shows experimental evidence of non-degradation of ion thermal confinement despite the increasing of auxiliary power. During such an improved confinement period, Toroidal Alfven Eigenmodes (TAEs) driven by fast ions generated through Neutral Beam Injection (NBI) are found unstable. Together with the TAEs, various instabilities associated with the injection of the fast neutrals are observed by multiple diagnostics, and a first characterization is given. Nonlinear wave-wave couplings are also detected through multi-mode analysis, revealing a complex picture of the stability dynamics of the TCV scenario at hand. The measurements provided by a short-pulse reflectometer corroborate the identification and radial localization of the instabilities. A preliminary, but not conclusive, analysis of the impact of TAEs on the amplitude of the electron density fluctuations is carried out. Local flux-tube gyrokinetic simulations show that the dominant underlying instabilities in the absence of fast ions are Trapped Electron Modes (TEM), and that these modes are effectively suppressed by zonal flows. Attempts to simulate the simultaneous presence of fast-ion driven TAEs and TEM turbulence show that elongated streamers develop up to the full radial extent of the flux-tube domain, thereby invalidating the local assumption and indicating that a global approach is mandatory in these TCV plasmas.

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Type
research article
DOI
10.3389/fphy.2023.1225787
Author(s)
Mazzi, Samuele  
Vallar, Matteo  
Kumar, Umesh  
Krutkin, Oleg  
Poley Sanjuán, Jesús  
Simons, Luke  
Ball, Justin Richard  
Brunner, Stephan  
Coda, Stefano  
Garcia, J.
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Corporate authors
TCV team
Date Issued

2023

Published in
Frontiers in Physics
Volume

11

Article Number

1225787

Subjects

Toroidal Alfvén Eigenmodes (TAE)

•

Neutral Beam Injection (NBI)

•

tokamak

•

magnetic confinement

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
SPC  
FunderGrant Number

EU funding

101052200

Swiss federal funding

SERI

Swiss foundations

SNSF

Available on Infoscience
December 20, 2023
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/202716
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