Alcator C-Mod Run 990225 Information

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Miniproposals
Miniproposal:137b
Date Filed: 1/14/1999
Title:Local Edge Threshold for H-Mode (Rev. 2)
First Author:Amanda Hubbard
Session Leader:Amanda Hubbard (shots 1-22)

Operators
Session leader(s):Amanda Hubbard
Physics operator(s):Joseph Snipes
Engineering operator(s): Unknown

Engineering Operator Run Comment
Snipes/Silva

Session Leader Plans

Physics Operators Plans

Session Leader Summaries
Entered: Jul 7 2004 03:49:19:553PM
Author: To Be Determined
Session Leader's Summary for 990225
MP137B, Local Edge Threshold for H-mode

Session Leader: Amanda Hubbard
Physics Operator: Joe Snipes

The purpose of the run was to carefully measure conditions just before the LH
threshold in a range of conditions. We started with the standard 800 kA,
1.0e20 discharge for a reference (shots 2,3). Both scanning probe data and
Bt sweeps were obtained shortly before the transition.

A current scan was carried out at fixed density, up to 1.2 MA. This took
several shots as we optimized the RF steps at each current. The RF behaved
very well at the moderate powers required, following programmed step waveform.
The LH threshold was at 1.2 MW RF at 1.0 MA (shots 4,5) and only 560 kW at
1.2 MW (shots 5-9). Again, L-mode Te profiles were obtained close to
threshold. It appears there is a most a weak Ip dependence of the Te
threshold. We will have to look more closely at this, since sawteeth have a
significant effect.

The remainder of the run consisted of a density scan at 1.2 MA. We got
several high density points, up to nel=1.5 e20. A surprise was that even
a small density increase, to 1.2e20, caused a large increase in the RF
power required (to 1.75 MW from 0.5). This may have been related to the
large gas fuelling required, and high neutral pressures. The threshold
temperatures seemed quite constant with density. 2.2 MW was needed at the
highest density (Shot 18). The RF delivered power well even at these levels,
though more tuning would be required to couple through the very high density
ELM-free H-modes which were obtained under these conditions (nel up to 3.1e20,
nebar to 5e20!).

We then attempted to explore the low density limit. However, shots 19 and 20
were fizzles, and shot 21 had higher density than requested (back to 1.0e20).
Shot 22 had the lowest density, 0.8e20 for the first H-mode, and threshold
power (350 kW). We evidently did not reach the low density limit, which will
be a priority for future runs.

Data were obtained on several edge diagnostics, including the soft x-rays and
edge Thomson scattering, in both L and H-modes, which I haven't yet had the
time or expertise to look at. We should have succeeded in obtaining some
good L-H datasets. Given the ELM-free nature of the H-modes, H-L studies were
not as systematic, but we did do power stepdowns and obtained plenty of back-
transitions. All in all a fairly successful day, considering the late start.
Many thanks to all those who braved the snow!

Amanda




Physics Operator Summaries
Entered: Jul 7 2004 04:37:00:300PM
Author: To Be Determined
Engineering Setup for Thursday, 990225:

2 hours ECDC in D_2 shut off one hour before the run

Power supply settings should be taken from 990224028

TF under hybrid control

Gas setup - fill B-top with 6 psi of D2 Hybrid enabled
fill B-side lower with 1 psi of Ar Hybrid enabled
fill C-side with 30 psi of D2 Hybrid enabled

The following gate valves should be enabled, assuming no vacuum problems:

ECE

Run plan
We will start with a standard H-mode plasma at 0.8 MA, 5.3 T, and nl04 = 1 x
10^20 m^-2 with 2 MW of ICRF if available. Then, we will increase the current
to 1.1 MA and then 1.2 MA. If decent H-modes are obtained, we will perform a
density scan from a target density nl04 of 0.6 - 1.5 x 10^20 m^-2. The ICRF
power will be stepped up in 0.25 MW steps lasting at least 75 msec each to look
for the L-H transition, then the power will be stepped down in the same way to
look for the H-L transition and determine the forward and back H-mode threshold
powers. Detailed edge pedestal measurements will be made with ECE, soft x ray,
and fast scanning probe diagnostics.

Physop Summary
Despite a slow start due to the alternator coming up late, the run went quite
well. The machine ran very well with 20 good shots out of 22. The 2 fizzles
were probably due to having too much gas in the machine after running a number
of shots at relatively high density. One H-mode reached nebar = 5 x 10^20 m^-3
with gas puffing only. Not all of the miniproposal was achieved, but
significant progress was made with a decent density scan at 1.2 MA. Lower and
higher density points would be helpful to extend the range, but more RF power
would be necessary for higher density and we needed more time to get the low
density points. Edge Thomson data looked good according to Dmitri and so we
can expect some good results from this run for pedestals and L-H and H-L
transitions.

Shot 1: Copied shot 990224028 then took out the TF blip for the ECE sweep and
changed the density to nl04 = 1 x 10^20 m^-2. Delay due to snow this
morning. Alternator is not up to speed. Delay probably till 10:00 am.
Nice plasma. No RF. It seems they did not think that we wanted RF on
that shot. Power room access for the RF to fix something.
Shot 2: Repeat with RF. Good shot with H-modes.
Shot 3: Ramped ZXL down by 1 cm from 0.5 to 1.22 sec to compensate for its
apparent drift. Put in Bt tweak from 0.57 to 0.7 sec by 7 kA for ECE
sweep. Removed Pulse Gas 5 gas puff even though the valve should be
disabled. Good shot with H-modes.
Shot 4: Raise Ip to 1 MA (programmed to 0.95 MA). Good shot with H-modes.
There are several CAMAC problems on the GKA5 highway causing very
strange mixups of signals including the main gas programming as well as
the probes and the 2 pi bolometer. Short cell access to try to solve
the CAMAC problems.
Shot 5: Moved CLEARIN from -0.008 to -0.003 m from 0.4 to 0.52 sec to avoid
hitting the inner wall at OH1 crossover. Removed Bt tweak for ECE.
Extended Ip out to 1.2 sec at 1 MA. Good shot with H-modes.
Shot 6: Extended Bt flattop out to 1.3 sec. Moved RCUR in by 2 mm from 0.6 to
1.2 sec. Moved CLEARIN in by 2 mm at the same time to increase the
outer gap for the RF. Increased Ip to 1.2 MA. Good shot with H-modes.
Shot 7: Increased CLEARIN by 3 mm throughout the flattop to increase both the
inner and outer gaps. Took 5 msec off the Ar puff at Rice's request.
Removed RCUR ramp and set the flattop value to 0.667 m. Good shot with
several H-modes.
Shot 8: Moved all waveforms out to 1.3 sec. Several had been left out of the
previous flattop extension including RCUR, CLEARIN, and nl04. Also
increased the rate of rise of the current early to try to reach 1.2 MA
by at least 0.5 sec. Short cell access for diagnostics. Good shot
with H-modes.
Shot 9: Increased CLEARIN by 3 mm at OH1 crossover to try to avoid touching the
inner wall between 0.4 and 0.5 sec. Good shot with 2 H-modes.
Shot 10: Put in Bt tweak by 7 kA between 0.65 and 0.76 sec. Increased RCUR by
2 mm during the flattop and increased CLEARIN as well to decrease the
outer gap for the RF. Good shot with several H-modes.
Shot 11: Short cell access for diagnostics before this shot. nl04 raised to
1.2 x 10^20 m^-2. Good shot. No H-modes. Need more RF power.
Shot 12: Repeat with more RF power. Good shot. Still not enough RF power to
get the H-mode.
Shot 13: Repeat with more RF power. Removed Bt tweak. Good shot. Several
H-modes.
Shot 14: Repeat with 7 kA Bt tweak from 0.57 to 0.76 sec. Good shot with
several H-modes.
Shot 15: Increase nl04 to 1.4 x 10^20 m^-2. Good shot. RF tripped. No
H-modes.
Shot 16: Reduced flattop to 1.2 sec on Ip and Bt. Put in a small upward ramp in
Ip to keep the current flat at 1.2 MA. Good shot. H-mode in the ramp
down.
Shot 17: Repeat with more RF power. Good shot. H-mode.
Shot 18: Raised nl04 to 1.6 x 10^20 m^-2. Moved ZCUR up by 4 mm during the
flattop for Dmitri to check the edge Thomson data. Good shot.
H-mode.
Shot 19: Dropping nl04 to 0.8 x 10^20 m^-2. Fizzle!
Shot 20: Reduced pre-puff by 3 msec to 16 msec. Reduced Bz by 15 A to -1295 A
on EF4. Fizzle!
Shot 21: Put the EF4 tweak back to -1280 A and put the gas back to 19 msec.
Try again. Miklos left. Good shot. H-modes.
Shot 22: Reduced nl04 to 6 x 10^19 m^-2 and reduced the gas preprogramming
during the shot as well to get low density. Good shot. H-modes.

Scorecard
22 shots
20 good plasmas
2 fizzles

Session Leader Comments
Feb 25 1999 10:37:07:390AM990225002Amanda HubbardGood threshold shot. RF 0.8, 1.0 and 1.2 MW, as requested. L-H at 1.0 MW, 0.68 secs.

ELM-free H-modes.

Next shot, repeat with probe scan and Bt sweep in L-mode phase, slightly higher RF in last step.
Feb 25 1999 11:00:24:793AM990225003Amanda HubbardGood threshold shot. RF 0.8, 1.0 and 1.4 MW, as requested. L-H came later, at 1.4 MW.

ELM-free H-modes.

Got two good L-mode Bt sweeps. Not sure about probe, it has CAMAC problems.
Feb 25 1999 11:25:25:107AM990225004Amanda Hubbard1 MA

Good threshold shot. RF 0.8, 1.0 and 1.2 MW, as requested. L-H came later, at 1.2 MW.

ELM-free H-modes.

Got two good L-mode Bt sweeps.
Feb 25 1999 11:40:48:123AM990225005Amanda Hubbard1 MA

Good threshold shot. RF 0 1.0, 1.2 and 1.5 MW. L-H came early in 1.2 MW step again.
ELM-free H-modes.

No Bt sweeps. Got F-port probe, still CAMAC problems on A-port.

Next shot, going to 1.2 MW.
Feb 25 1999 12:28:41:357PM990225006Amanda Hubbard1.2 MA

LH transition at first RF step, 1.0 MW. Lower RF to 800 kW for next shot.

Outer gap rather small, Rsep 90.0 cm. Increasing gap for next shot.
Feb 25 1999 12:27:46:403PM990225007Amanda Hubbard1.2 MA

LH transition at first RF step, 0.8 MW. Lower RF to 600 kW for next shot.

4 H-modes, apparently ELM-free or small ELMs.
Feb 25 1999 01:15:41:967PM990225008Amanda Hubbard1.2 MA

Good shot. L-H transition still at first RF step, 650 kW. Lower further on next shot.
Feb 25 1999 01:12:03:140PM990225009Amanda Hubbard1.2 MA

Got a nice threshold point this time, L-H at 0.56 MW RF.

Next shot, repeat with Bt sweep added.
Feb 25 1999 01:28:05:483PM990225010Amanda Hubbard1.2 MA

Good shot. L-H transition a little later, at 740 kW. Got 2 good L-mode Bt sweeps.

Time to start the density scan. Next shot, 1.2e20 m-3
Feb 25 1999 01:53:11:827PM990225011Amanda Hubbard1.2 MA, nel 1.15e20.

Good shot., but requested RF of 700 kW was below threshold. Retune and increase to
1.4 MW for next shot.
Feb 25 1999 02:36:20:653PM990225012Amanda Hubbard1.2 MA, nel 1.2 e20.

Good shot., but requested RF of 1.4 MW was still below threshold. Increase to
2 MW for next shot.
Feb 25 1999 02:37:02:793PM990225013Amanda Hubbard1.2 MA, nel 1.2 e20.

Got H-mode at 1.7 MW. Lots of trips once in H-mode. Retune and try again.
Feb 25 1999 02:47:26:873PM990225014Amanda Hubbard1.2 MA, nel 1.2 e20.

Got H-mode at 1.3 MW (earlier). Still tripping in H-mode. Very high H-mode densities are causing
cutoff on ECE late in H-mode.
Feb 25 1999 03:47:03:733PM990225016Amanda Hubbard1.2 MA, nel 1.35 e20.

No H-mode until Bt rampdown, despite 1.75 MW RF. Threshold seems high, note we are puffing D
hard. Neutrals??
Feb 25 1999 03:44:16:450PM990225017Amanda Hubbard1.2 MA, nel 1.35 e20.

Good threshold point, L-H at 0.93 secs, 1.75 MW. Steve thinks he can do even more, so raising
density and power again for next shot.
Feb 25 1999 03:47:39:763PM990225017Amanda Hubbard1.2 MA, nel 1.35 e20.

Good threshold point, L-H at 0.93 secs, 2.2 MW. Steve thinks he can do even more, so raising
density and power again for next shot.
Feb 25 1999 04:28:12:153PM990225018Amanda Hubbard
1.2 MA, nel 1.5 e20.

Good threshold point at 1.08 s 2.2 MW.

H-mode gets to very high densities, nel 3.1 e20, neber 5e20.
ECE is, of course, cut off.

For next shots we will scan DOWN in density, towards low ne limit.
Feb 25 1999 04:50:42:687PM990225021Amanda Hubbard
1.2 MA, wanted nel=0.8e20, got nel 1.0 e20.

Good threshold point at 0.55 MW.

Try for lower density on next shot
Feb 25 1999 05:01:43:060PM990225022Amanda Hubbard
Density 0.8-1.0e20, several transitions, earliest at 350 kW. Must be the minimum of the density
curve.

Physics Operator Comments
Feb 25 1999 08:20:25:170AMJoseph SnipesEngineering Setup for Thursday, 990225:

2 hours ECDC in D_2 shut off one hour before the run

Power supply settings should be taken from 990224028

TF under hybrid control

Gas setup - fill B-top with 6 psi of D2 Hybrid enabled
fill B-side lower with 1 psi of Ar Hybrid enabled
fill C-side with 30 psi of D2 Hybrid enabled

The following gate valves should be enabled, assuming no vacuum problems:

ECE

Run plan
We will start with a standard H-mode plasma at 0.8 MA, 5.3 T, and nl04 = 1 x
10^20 m^-2 with 2 MW of ICRF if available. Then, we will increase the current
to 1.1 MA and then 1.2 MA. If decent H-modes are obtained, we will perform a
density scan from a target density nl04 of 0.6 - 1.5 x 10^20 m^-2. The ICRF
power will be stepped up in 0.25 MW steps lasting at least 75 msec each to look
for the L-H transition, then the power will be stepped down in the same way to
look for the H-L transition and determine the forward and back H-mode threshold
powers. Detailed edge pedestal measurements will be made with ECE, soft x ray,
and fast scanning probe diagnostics.
Feb 25 1999 08:22:35:513AM990225001Joseph SnipesShot 1: Copied shot 990224028 then took out the TF blip for the ECE sweep and
changed the density to nl04 = 1 x 10^20 m^-2. Physop is ready, but
there is a delay due to snow?! according to Frank Silva.
Feb 25 1999 08:25:09:500AM990225001Joseph SnipesShot 1: Copied shot 990224028 then took out the TF blip for the ECE sweep and
changed the density to nl04 = 1 x 10^20 m^-2. Alternator is not up to
speed. Delay probably till 10:00 am.
Feb 25 1999 10:02:42:623AM990225001Joseph SnipesShot 1: Copied shot 990224028 then took out the TF blip for the ECE sweep and
changed the density to nl04 = 1 x 10^20 m^-2. Alternator is not up to
speed. Delay probably till 10:00 am. Nice plasma. No RF. It seems
they did not think that we wanted RF on that shot. Power room access
for the RF to fix something.
Feb 25 1999 10:29:55:983AM990225002Joseph SnipesShot 2: Repeat with RF. Good shot with H-modes.
Feb 25 1999 10:42:44:483AM990225003Joseph SnipesShot 3: Ramped ZXL down by 1 cm from 0.5 to 1.22 sec to compensate for its
apparent drift. Put in Bt tweak from 0.57 to 0.7 sec by 7 kA for ECE
sweep. Removed Pulse Gas 5 gas puff even though the valve should be
disabled. Good shot with H-modes.
Feb 25 1999 11:04:47:373AM990225004Joseph SnipesShot 4: Raise Ip to 1 MA (programmed to 0.95 MA). Good shot with H-modes.
There are several CAMAC problems on the GKA5 highway causing very
strange mixups of signals including the main gas programming as well as
the probes and the 2 pi bolometer. Short cell access to try to solve
the CAMAC problems.
Feb 25 1999 11:28:25:013AM990225005Joseph SnipesShot 5: Moved CLEARIN from -0.008 to -0.003 m from 0.4 to 0.52 sec to avoid
hitting the inner wall at OH1 crossover. Removed Bt tweak for ECE.
Extended Ip out to 1.2 sec at 1 MA. Good shot with H-modes.
Feb 25 1999 11:56:52:170AM990225006Joseph SnipesShot 6: Extended Bt flattop out to 1.3 sec. Moved RCUR in by 2 mm from 0.6 to
1.2 sec. Moved CLEARIN in by 2 mm at the same time to increase the
outer gap for the RF. Increased Ip to 1.2 MA. Good shot with H-modes.

Feb 25 1999 12:08:06:857PM990225007Joseph SnipesShot 7: Increased CLEARIN by 3 mm throughout the flattop to increase both the
inner and outer gaps. Took 5 msec off the Ar puff at Rice's request.
Removed RCUR ramp and set the flattop value to 0.667 m. Good shot with
several H-modes.
Feb 25 1999 12:37:51:030PM990225008Joseph SnipesShot 8: Moved all waveforms out to 1.3 sec. Several had been left out of the
previous flattop extension including RCUR, CLEARIN, and nl04. Also
increased the rate of rise of the current early to try to reach 1.2 MA
by at least 0.5 sec. Short cell access for diagnostics. Good shot with
H-modes.
Feb 25 1999 01:04:55:780PM990225009Joseph SnipesShot 9: Increased CLEARIN by 3 mm at OH1 crossover to try to avoid touching the
inner wall between 0.4 and 0.5 sec. Good shot with 2 H-modes.
Feb 25 1999 01:17:00:123PM990225010Joseph SnipesShot 10: Put in Bt tweak by 7 kA between 0.65 and 0.76 sec. Increased RCUR by
2 mm during the flattop and increased CLEARIN as well to decrease the
outer gap for the RF. Good shot with several H-modes.
Feb 25 1999 01:43:08:077PM990225011Joseph SnipesShot 11: Short cell access for diagnostics before this shot. nl04 raised to
1.2 x 10^20 m^-2. Good shot. No H-modes. Need more RF power.
Feb 25 1999 02:09:57:763PM990225012Joseph SnipesShot 12: Repeat with more RF power. Good shot. Still not enough RF power to
get the H-mode.
Feb 25 1999 02:23:24:560PM990225013Joseph SnipesShot 13: Repeat with more RF power. Removed Bt tweak. Good shot. Several
H-modes.
Feb 25 1999 02:38:22:153PM990225014Joseph SnipesShot 14: Repeat with 7 kA Bt tweak from 0.57 to 0.76 sec. Good shot with
several H-modes.
Feb 25 1999 02:55:47:623PM990225015Joseph SnipesShot 15: Increase nl04 to 1.4 x 10^20 m^-2. Good shot. RF tripped. No H-modes.
Feb 25 1999 03:13:16:513PM990225016Joseph SnipesShot 16: Reduced flattop to 1.2 sec on Ip and Bt. Put in a small upward ramp in
Ip to keep the current flat at 1.2 MA. Good shot. H-mode in the ramp
down.
Feb 25 1999 03:34:16:187PM990225017Joseph SnipesShot 17: Repeat with more RF power. Good shot. H-mode.
Feb 25 1999 03:49:32:013PM990225018Joseph SnipesShot 18: Raised nl04 to 1.6 x 10^20 m^-2. Moved ZCUR up by 4 mm during the
flattop for Dmitri to check the edge Thomson data. Good shot. H-mode.
Feb 25 1999 04:17:14:763PM990225019Joseph SnipesShot 19: Dropping nl04 to 0.8 x 10^20 m^-2. Fizzle!
Feb 25 1999 04:47:50:107PM990225020Joseph SnipesShot 20: Reduced pre-puff by 3 msec to 16 msec. Reduced Bz by 15 A to -1295 A
on EF4. Fizzle!
Feb 25 1999 04:39:43:217PM990225021Joseph SnipesShot 21: Put the EF4 tweak back to -1280 A and put the gas back to 19 msec.
Try again. Miklos left. Good shot. H-modes.
Feb 25 1999 04:57:57:780PM990225022Joseph SnipesShot 22: Reduced nl04 to 6 x 10^19 m^-2 and reduced the gas preprogramming
during the shot as well to get low density. Good shot. H-modes.
Feb 25 1999 05:07:43:420PM990225022Joseph SnipesPhysop Summary
Despite a slow start due to the alternator coming up late, the run went quite
well. The machine ran very well with 20 good shots out of 22. The 2 fizzles
were probably due to having too much gas in the machine after running a number
of shots at relatively high density. One H-mode reached nebar = 5 x 10^20 m^-3
with gas puffing only. Not all of the miniproposal was achieved, but
significant progress was made with a decent density scan at 1.2 MA. Lower and
higher density points would be helpful to extend the range, but more RF power
would be necessary for higher density and we needed more time to get the low
density points. Edge Thomson data looked good according to Dmitri and so we
can expect some good results from this run for pedestals and L-H and H-L
transitions.

Engineering Operator Comments
ShotTimeTypeStatusComment
109:56:00:013AMPlasmaOkno faults/plasma
210:19:37:577AMPlasmaOkno faults/plasma
310:37:04:233AMPlasmaOkno faults/plasma
410:57:23:840AMPlasmaOkno faults/plasma
511:26:47:670AMPlasmaOkno faults/plasma
611:47:45:513AMPlasmaOkno faults/plasma
712:06:34:903PMPlasmaOkNo Faults / Plasma
812:34:39:543PMPlasmaOkNo Faults / Plasma
912:52:43:060PMPlasmaOkNo Faults / Plasma
1001:15:31:030PMPlasmaOkNo Faults / Plasma
1101:37:20:920PMPlasmaOkNo Faults / Plasma
1202:02:44:950PMPlasmaOkNo Faults / Plasma
1302:21:23:717PMPlasmaOkNo Faults / Plasma
1402:36:15:357PMPlasmaOkNo Faults / Plasma
1502:50:24:983PMPlasmaOkNo Faults / Plasma
1603:08:20:827PMPlasmaOkNo Faults / Plasma
1703:30:32:293PMPlasmaOkNo Faults / Plasma
1803:46:23:763PMPlasmaOkNo Faults / Plasma
1904:07:13:077PMPlasmaOkNo Faults / Plasma
2004:22:53:030PMPlasmaOkNo Faults / Plasma
2104:37:46:763PMPlasmaOkNo Faults / Plasma
2204:51:27:373PMPlasmaOkNo Faults / Plasma