Study of Divertor Heat Patterns Induced by LHCD L-Mode Plasmas Using an Infra-Red Camera System on EAST

Divertor heat patterns induced by Lower Hybrid Current Drive (LHCD) L-mode plasmas are investigated using an infra-red (IR) camera system on an Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST). A two-dimensional finite element analysis code DFlux is used to compute heat flux along the poloidal divertor target and corresponding quantities. Outside the Origin Strike Zone (OSZ), a Second Peak Heat Flux (SPHF) zone, where the heat flux is even stronger than that at the OSZ, appears on the lower-outer (LO) divertor plates with LHCD and disappears immediately after switching off the LHCD. The main heat-flux shifts from the SPHF zone towards the OSZ when the divertor configuration converts from double null to lower single null, indicating that the growth of the SPHF zone is apparently affected by a plasma magnetic configuration. The heat patterns on the LO divertor plates are observed to be different from that on the lower-inner (LI) targets as the SPHF zone appears only on the LO divertor target. It is also found that the heat flux at the SPHF zone was obviously enhanced after the Supersonic Molecule Beam Injection (SMBI) pulse. (paper)