Experimental determination of the dimensionless scaling parameter of energy transport in tokamaks

Controlled fusion experiments have focused on the variation of the plasma characteristics as the engineering or control parameters are systematically changed. This has led to the development of extrapolation formulae for prediction of future device performance using these same variables as a basis. Recently, it was noticed that present-day tokamaks can operate with all of the dimensionless variables which appear in the Vlasov-Maxwell system of equations at values projected for a fusion powerplant with the exception of the parameter ρ*, the gyroradius normalized to the machine size. The scaling with this parameter is related to the benefit of increasing the size of the machine either directly or effectively by increasing the magnetic field. It is exactly this scaling which is subject to systematic error in the inter-machine databases and the cost driver for any future machine. If this scaling can be fixed by a series of single machine experiments, much as the current and power scalings have been, the confidence in the prediction of future device performance would be greatly enhanced. While carrying out experiments of this type, it was also found that the ρ* scaling can illuminate the underlying physics of energy transport. Conclusions drawn from experiments on the DIII-D tokamak in these two areas are the subject of this paper