Off-axis current drive and real-time control of current profile in JT-60U

Suzuki, Takahiro; Ide, Shunsuke; Oikawa, Toshihiro; Fujita, Takaaki; Ishikawa, Masao; Seki, Masami; Matsunaga, Go; Hatae, Takaki; Naito, Osamu; Hamamatsu, Kiyotaka; Sueoka, Michiharu; Hosoyama, Hiroki; Nakazato, Mikoto; JT-60 Team

Aiming at optimization of current profile in high-b plasmas for higher confinement and stability, a real-time control system of the minimum of the safety factor () using the off-axis current drive has been developed. The off-axis current drive can raise safety factor in the center and help to avoid instability that limits performance of the plasma. The system controls injection power of lower-hybrid (LH) waves, and hence, its off-axis driven current in order to control . The real-time control of is demonstrated in a high- plasma, where follows the temporally changing reference from 1.3 to 1.7. Applying the control to another high- discharge (=1.7, =1.5) with =2/1 neo-classical tearing mode (NTM), was raised above 2 and the NTM was suppressed. The stored energy increased by 16% with the NTM suppressed, since the resonant rational surface was eliminated. For the future use for current profile control, current density profile for off-axis neutral beam current drive (NBCD) is for the first time measured, using motional Stark effect (MSE) diagnostic. Spatially localized NBCD profile was clearly observed at the normalized of about 0.6-0.8. The location was also confirmed by multi-chordal neutron emission profile measurement. The total amount of the measured beam driven current was consistent with the theoretical calculation using the ACCOME code. The CD location in the calculation was inward-shifted than the measurement.