Density limit in discharges with high internal inductance on JT-60U

Yamada, Hiroshi*; Takenaga, Hidenobu; Suzuki, Takahiro; Fujita, Takaaki; Takizuka, Tomonori; Kamada, Yutaka; Asakura, Nobuyuki; Tsuda, Takashi; Takechi, Manabu; Matsunaga, Go; Sakamoto, Ryuichi*; Miura, Yukitoshi

High densities exceeding the Greenwald limit by a factor of 1.7 have been obtained in discharges with high internal inductances of as high as 2.8 in JT-60U L-mode plasmas. The internal inductance, which is an index of the edge magnetic shear, is controlled by ramping down the plasma current. In addition to the extension of the operational regime, confinement performance remains as good as an H89PL factor of 1.5 even above the Greenwald limit. While the earlier work of a high study has indicated that core confinement improvement, the additional improvement of the tolerance against the high density is turned out to be correlated with high edge temperature. The normalized density when the detachment characterized by the decrease in a D signal at the divertor occurs is even higher in the case with no disruption than the case with a disruption. These comparisons have indicated that the improvement in thermal and particle transport does exist in the periphery and the edge in the high plasmas, and mitigation of the density limit is observed coincidently. Although the high discharge studied here lies outside of the usual parameter space for a steady-state operation of tokamak, demonstration of a stable discharge with good confinement beyond the Greenwald limit suggest the magnetic shear at the edge is one key parameter to uncover physical element of the operational density limit.