Toroidally localized soft x-ray expulsion at the termination of the improved confinement regime in the TPE-RX reversed-field pinch experiment

摘要

The pulsed poloidal current drive technique reduces the magnetic chaos that characterizes reversed-field pinch configurations and produces a regime with an improved confinement. In this paper, we describe that, in TPE-RX [Y. Yagi , Fusion Eng. Des. 45, 409 (1999)], the termination phase of this regime is due to the increase of the slinky structure that creates a stochastic region and produces the expulsion of energy in a localized toroidal position. Before the plasma reaches the improved confinement regime, the slinky distorts the chain of m=0 islands on the reversal surface. During this regime, the magnetic activity and the phase locking decrease, the distortion in the island chain disappears, and the confinement increases. At the termination of this regime the magnetic activity markedly increases, as well as the phase locking, recreating the distortion in the m=0 magnetic island chain. As a consequence, at the position of the distortion the plasma region inside the reversal surface is characterized by a rapid energy loss, and outside the reversal surface a toroidally localized energy expulsion is induced.(c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.