Coaxial helicity injection in open-flux low-aspect-ratio toroidal discharges

摘要

Open-flux low-aspect-ratio toroidal discharges generated and sustained by coaxial helicity injection (CHI) in the Helicity Injected Torus device (HIT-II) are described. The discharges in this study are flux tubes directly connected to the CHI electrodes, with poloidal flux less than or equal to the CHI injector flux, and no possibility of a significant closed-flux plasma core. Theoretically derived scalings for the dependence of CHI injector current on the toroidal field current and magnitude of the injector flux are experimentally confirmed, and empirical models are developed for the poloidal magnetic field and toroidal plasma current in open-flux discharges. In particular, the toroidal plasma current is independent of the toroidal magnetic field, both theoretically and empirically. Variations in injector flux geometry demonstrate that the CHI injector current leaves the electrode surfaces at the flux strike points, and that the relative width of the CHI injector determines whether the dominant observed relaxation mechanism is a harmonic mode at the plasma edge or reconnection near the CHI electrodes. In the case of an effective interelectrode distance approximately equal to the device minor radius, the ratio of toroidal plasma current to CHI injector current is maximized. Global magnetic equilibrium quantities and local magnetic measurements are consistent with modelling these open-flux discharges as thin current sheets connected to the CHI electrodes. (C) 2007 American Institute of Physics.