Published May 7, 2010 | Version v1
Journal article

Observation of Confined Current Ribbon in JET Plasmas

  • 1. Laboratorio Nacional de Fusion, Asociacion EURATOM-CIEMAT, 28040, Madrid (Spain)
  • 2. Euratom/CCFE Association, Culham Science Centre, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 3DB (United Kingdom)
  • 3. Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230031 (China)

Description

We report the identification of a localized current structure inside the JET plasma. It is a field-aligned closed helical ribbon, carrying current in the same direction as the background current profile (cocurrent), rotating toroidally with the ion velocity (corotating). It appears to be located at a flat spot in the plasma pressure profile, at the top of the pedestal. The structure appears spontaneously in low density, high rotation plasmas, and can last up to 1.4 s, a time comparable to a local resistive time. It considerably delays the appearance of the first edge localized mode.

Additional details

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Physical Review Letters
Journal Volume
104
Journal Issue
18
Journal Page Range
p. 185003-185003.5
ISSN
0031-9007
CODEN
PRLTAO

INIS

Country of Publication
United States
Country of Input or Organization
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
INIS RN
42003837
Subject category
S70: PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY;
Descriptors DEI
CURRENTS; DENSITY; EDGE LOCALIZED MODES; IONS; PLASMA; PLASMA PRESSURE
Descriptors DEC
CHARGED PARTICLES; INSTABILITY; PHYSICAL PROPERTIES; PLASMA INSTABILITY; PLASMA MACROINSTABILITIES

Optional Information

Notes
(c) 2010 The American Physical Society