Study of plasma discharge evolution and edge turbulence with fast visible imaging in the Aditya tokamak

Study of discharge evolution through the different phases of a tokamak plasma shot viz., the discharge initiation, current ramp-up, current flat-top and discharge termination, is essential to address many inherent issues of the operation of a Tokamak. Fast visible imaging of the tokamak plasma can provide valuable insight in this regard. Further, edge turbulence is considered to be one of the quintessential areas of tokamak research as the edge plasma is at the immediate vicinity of the plasma core and plays vital role in the core plasma confinement. The edge plasma also bridges the core and the scrape off layer (SOL) of the tokamak and hence has a bearing on the particle and heat flux escaping the plasma column. Two fast visible imaging systems are installed on the Aditya tokamak. One of the system is for imaging the plasma evolution with a wide angle lens covering a major portion of the vacuum vessel. The imaging fiber bundle along with the objective lens is installed inside a radial re-entrant viewport, specially designed for the purpose. Another system is intended for tangential imaging of the plasma column. Formation of the plasma column and its evolution are studied with the fast visible imaging in Aditya. Features of the ECRH and LHCD operations on Aditya will be discussed. 3D filaments can, be seen at the plasma edge all along the discharge and they get amplified in intensity at the plasma termination phase. Statistical analysis of these filaments, which are essentially plasma blobs will be presented. (author)