B. Labit - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by B. Labit

Research paper thumbnail of Dynamics of detachment in TCV with N 2 seeding and flux expansion

As the operation of future devices will require target heat fluxes of less than 10-20 MW/m, findi... more As the operation of future devices will require target heat fluxes of less than 10-20 MW/m, finding ways of dissipating the power is a critical issue. This can be achieved by operating in a detached regime where a drop of the target ion flux is attributed to the onset of parallel momentum losses. To further understand this process in the TCV open divertor, we investigate detachment in a lower single-null X-Divertor geometry in range of flux expansions of 2 to 20, approaching detachment through nitrogen seeding at fixed integrated core density (25% or 45% of the Greenwald limit) or integrated core density ramps (from 30% to about 70% of the Greenwald limit) in L–Mode plasmas. We particularly focus on the relation between the roll-over of the target ion flux, the development of a parallel pressure gradient along the divertor leg and the evolution of the upstream profiles. The plasma profiles at the outboard midplane reveal a saturation, and eventually a roll-over of the upstream press...

Research paper thumbnail of 1 EX / P 305 Experimental Investigation of Plasma Confinement in Reactor Relevant Conditions in TCV Plasmas with Dominant Electron Heating

Recent experiments have been performed on the TCV tokamak to investigate confinement in electronh... more Recent experiments have been performed on the TCV tokamak to investigate confinement in electronheated discharges in an attempt to simulate reactor conditions with dominant electron heating. For the first time, L-mode confinement properties have been analyzed as a function of the electron heating power profile width. Discharges with on-axis peaked electron-cyclotron heating power profiles with HWHM~0.12-0.4 as well as a scenario with off-axis heating peaked at ~0.7 have been studied in the range of heating power 0.5-2 MW at plasma density 210 19 m -3 =0.15 nGw. The confinement appears to be independent of the power deposition profile width, provided a significant fraction is inside the q=1 radius. Confinement degradation scales with the heating power in agreement with ITER scaling prediction for on-axis peaked power deposition, whereas a stronger degradation is observed for off-axis heating, E~ Ptot -0.9 . Plasma behavior has also been investigated in discharges with higher plasm...

Research paper thumbnail of Properties of Snowflake Diverted H-Mode Plasmas in TCV

B. Labit, G. Canal, H. Reimerdes, B. Tal1, W. Vijvers, S. Coda, B.P. Duval, T. Morgan2, G. De Tem... more B. Labit, G. Canal, H. Reimerdes, B. Tal1, W. Vijvers, S. Coda, B.P. Duval, T. Morgan2, G. De Temmerman2, J. Zielinski2 and the TCV team École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Centre de Recherches en Physique des Plasmas (CRPP), Association EURATOM-Confédération Suisse, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland. 1Institute for Particle and Nuclear Physics, Wigner Research Centre for Physics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, EURATOM Association, Budapest, Hungary. 2Dutch Institute for Fundamental Energy Research (DIFFER), Association EURATOM-FOM, Nieuwegein, The Netherlands.

Research paper thumbnail of Optimization of the snowflake divertor by means of EMC3-Eirene simulations and experiments

Research paper thumbnail of Dependence of the L-Mode scrape-off layer power fall-off length on the upper triangularity in TCV

Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion

Research paper thumbnail of Millimeter-wave beam scattering by edge-plasma density fluctuations in TCV

Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion

Research paper thumbnail of Detachment evolution on the TCV tokamak

Nuclear Materials and Energy

Research paper thumbnail of Poloidal asymmetry in the narrow heat flux feature in the TCV scrape-off layer

Physics of Plasmas

Heat flux profiles inferred from a reciprocating probe at the outer midplane of the TCV tokamak d... more Heat flux profiles inferred from a reciprocating probe at the outer midplane of the TCV tokamak during inner wall limited discharges feature radial fall-off lengths that shorten near the last closed flux surface (LCFS) consistent with the so-called narrow feature. The narrow feature is significantly wider on the outboard side compared with that measured on the inner wall by infrared thermography, so it is difficult to discern from the main scrape-off layer feature. After small shifts were applied for alignment, the fraction of the power contained in the narrow feature matches between inboard and outboard measurements, and they scale together with plasma current Ip, suggesting that we are observing the same phenomenon. The outboard side fall-off length within the narrow feature is found to scale closely with the radial correlation length of the edge turbulence as expected if the narrow feature arises due to radially sheared E × B flows. This is found to hold true even for cases where the narrow feature is ...

Research paper thumbnail of Overview of progress in European medium sized tokamaks towards an integrated plasma-edge/wall solution

Research paper thumbnail of A novel carbon coating technique for foil bolometers

Review of Scientific Instruments, 2016

Naked foil bolometers can reflect a significant fraction of incident energy and therefore cannot ... more Naked foil bolometers can reflect a significant fraction of incident energy and therefore cannot be used for absolute measurements. This paper outlines a novel coating approach to address this problem by blackening the surface of gold foil bolometers using physical vapour deposition. An experimental bolometer was built containing four standard gold foil bolometers, of which two were coated with 100+ nm of carbon. All bolometers were collimated and observed the same relatively high temperature, ohmically heated plasma. Preliminary results showed 13%-15% more incident power was measured by the coated bolometers and this is expected to be much higher in future TCV detached divertor experiments.

Research paper thumbnail of Spectroscopic investigations of divertor detachment in TCV

The aim of this work is to provide an understanding of detachment at TCV with emphasis on analysi... more The aim of this work is to provide an understanding of detachment at TCV with emphasis on analysis of the Balmer line emission. A new Divertor Spectroscopy System has been developed for this purpose. Further development of Balmer line analysis techniques has allowed detailed information to be extracted on free-free and three-body recombination. During density ramps, the plasma at the target detaches as inferred from a drop in density at, and ion current to, the target. At the same time the Balmer 6 → 2 and 7 → 2 line emission near the target is dominated by recombination, indicating that the ionization region has also detached from the target to be replaced by a recombining region with densities more than a factor 2 higher than at the target. As the core density increases further, the density and recombination rate are rising all along the outer leg to the x-point while remaining highest at the target. Even at the highest core densities accessed (Greenwald fraction 0.7) the peaks in...

Research paper thumbnail of Plasma production and turbulence studies in the toroidal device TORPEX

ABSTRACT TORPEX is a device for studying turbulence and transport, in which toroidal plasmas (n≃1... more ABSTRACT TORPEX is a device for studying turbulence and transport, in which toroidal plasmas (n≃10^17 m-3, T_e≃10 eV) are produced by microwaves at f=2.45GHz in the electron cyclotron (EC) range. The mechanisms for the EC wave absorption and sustainment of plasmas with different profiles are investigated as a function of the B-field configuration, gas pressure and injected power. In addition to the broad ionization from bulk electrons, a localized source is provided by electrons accelerated at the upper hybrid resonant layer, where most of the microwave power is absorbed. Different plasma profiles correspond to different fluctuation characteristics, measured by Langmuir probes. Argon plasmas are usually characterized by coherent peaks with f ˜ 10kHz, identified as drift waves, and by large-scale structures that move in the ExB direction, while Hydrogen plasmas appear more turbulent and show no evidence of coherent structures. Experiments on the link between the plasma production scenarios, determining the plasma profiles, and the characteristics of the fluctuations, are discussed.

Research paper thumbnail of Confinement regimes in simple magnetized toroidal plasmas

Research paper thumbnail of Effect of the magnetic configuration on fluctuations and turbulence in the TORPEX toroidal plasma

Research paper thumbnail of Interchange instabilities, turbulence and fast ion interactions in the TORPEX device

ABSTRACT Electrostatic turbulence, related structures and their effect on transport are investiga... more ABSTRACT Electrostatic turbulence, related structures and their effect on transport are investigated on TORPEX simple magnetized plasmas using high resolution diagnostics and several control parameters, fluid models and numerical simulations. A critical pressure gradient to drive the interchange instability is experimentally identified, consistently with linear theory. Interchange modes nonlinearly develop blobs, radially propagating filaments of enhanced plasma pressure. Blob velocities and sizes are obtained from probe measurements using pattern recognition and are described by an analytical expression that includes ion polarization currents, parallel sheath currents and ion-neutral collisions. Limiter configurations with varying angles between field lines and the metal surface are explored. To complement probe data, a fast framing camera and a movable gas puff system are installed. Density and light fluctuations show similar signatures of drift-interchange activity. Further developments of optical diagnostics, including an image intensifier and LIF, will be discussed. The effect of interchange turbulence on fast ion phase space dynamics is studied using movable fast ion source and detector in scenarios for which the development from linear waves into blobs is fully characterized.

Research paper thumbnail of Transport de chaleur électronique dans un tokamak par simulation numérique directe d'une turbulence de petite échelle

Research paper thumbnail of Experimental characterization of drift-interchange instabilities in a simple toroidal plasma

Research paper thumbnail of Recent TCV Results - Innovative Plasma Shaping to Improve Plasma Properties and Insight

Plasma and Fusion Research, 2012

Research paper thumbnail of X -Point-Position-Dependent Intrinsic Toroidal Rotation in the Edge of the TCV Tokamak

Physical Review Letters, 2015

ABSTRACT

Research paper thumbnail of Experimental investigation of neon seeding in the snowflake configuration in TCV

Journal of Nuclear Materials, 2015

ABSTRACT

Research paper thumbnail of Dynamics of detachment in TCV with N 2 seeding and flux expansion

As the operation of future devices will require target heat fluxes of less than 10-20 MW/m, findi... more As the operation of future devices will require target heat fluxes of less than 10-20 MW/m, finding ways of dissipating the power is a critical issue. This can be achieved by operating in a detached regime where a drop of the target ion flux is attributed to the onset of parallel momentum losses. To further understand this process in the TCV open divertor, we investigate detachment in a lower single-null X-Divertor geometry in range of flux expansions of 2 to 20, approaching detachment through nitrogen seeding at fixed integrated core density (25% or 45% of the Greenwald limit) or integrated core density ramps (from 30% to about 70% of the Greenwald limit) in L–Mode plasmas. We particularly focus on the relation between the roll-over of the target ion flux, the development of a parallel pressure gradient along the divertor leg and the evolution of the upstream profiles. The plasma profiles at the outboard midplane reveal a saturation, and eventually a roll-over of the upstream press...

Research paper thumbnail of 1 EX / P 305 Experimental Investigation of Plasma Confinement in Reactor Relevant Conditions in TCV Plasmas with Dominant Electron Heating

Recent experiments have been performed on the TCV tokamak to investigate confinement in electronh... more Recent experiments have been performed on the TCV tokamak to investigate confinement in electronheated discharges in an attempt to simulate reactor conditions with dominant electron heating. For the first time, L-mode confinement properties have been analyzed as a function of the electron heating power profile width. Discharges with on-axis peaked electron-cyclotron heating power profiles with HWHM~0.12-0.4 as well as a scenario with off-axis heating peaked at ~0.7 have been studied in the range of heating power 0.5-2 MW at plasma density 210 19 m -3 =0.15 nGw. The confinement appears to be independent of the power deposition profile width, provided a significant fraction is inside the q=1 radius. Confinement degradation scales with the heating power in agreement with ITER scaling prediction for on-axis peaked power deposition, whereas a stronger degradation is observed for off-axis heating, E~ Ptot -0.9 . Plasma behavior has also been investigated in discharges with higher plasm...

Research paper thumbnail of Properties of Snowflake Diverted H-Mode Plasmas in TCV

B. Labit, G. Canal, H. Reimerdes, B. Tal1, W. Vijvers, S. Coda, B.P. Duval, T. Morgan2, G. De Tem... more B. Labit, G. Canal, H. Reimerdes, B. Tal1, W. Vijvers, S. Coda, B.P. Duval, T. Morgan2, G. De Temmerman2, J. Zielinski2 and the TCV team École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Centre de Recherches en Physique des Plasmas (CRPP), Association EURATOM-Confédération Suisse, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland. 1Institute for Particle and Nuclear Physics, Wigner Research Centre for Physics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, EURATOM Association, Budapest, Hungary. 2Dutch Institute for Fundamental Energy Research (DIFFER), Association EURATOM-FOM, Nieuwegein, The Netherlands.

Research paper thumbnail of Optimization of the snowflake divertor by means of EMC3-Eirene simulations and experiments

Research paper thumbnail of Dependence of the L-Mode scrape-off layer power fall-off length on the upper triangularity in TCV

Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion

Research paper thumbnail of Millimeter-wave beam scattering by edge-plasma density fluctuations in TCV

Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion

Research paper thumbnail of Detachment evolution on the TCV tokamak

Nuclear Materials and Energy

Research paper thumbnail of Poloidal asymmetry in the narrow heat flux feature in the TCV scrape-off layer

Physics of Plasmas

Heat flux profiles inferred from a reciprocating probe at the outer midplane of the TCV tokamak d... more Heat flux profiles inferred from a reciprocating probe at the outer midplane of the TCV tokamak during inner wall limited discharges feature radial fall-off lengths that shorten near the last closed flux surface (LCFS) consistent with the so-called narrow feature. The narrow feature is significantly wider on the outboard side compared with that measured on the inner wall by infrared thermography, so it is difficult to discern from the main scrape-off layer feature. After small shifts were applied for alignment, the fraction of the power contained in the narrow feature matches between inboard and outboard measurements, and they scale together with plasma current Ip, suggesting that we are observing the same phenomenon. The outboard side fall-off length within the narrow feature is found to scale closely with the radial correlation length of the edge turbulence as expected if the narrow feature arises due to radially sheared E × B flows. This is found to hold true even for cases where the narrow feature is ...

Research paper thumbnail of Overview of progress in European medium sized tokamaks towards an integrated plasma-edge/wall solution

Research paper thumbnail of A novel carbon coating technique for foil bolometers

Review of Scientific Instruments, 2016

Naked foil bolometers can reflect a significant fraction of incident energy and therefore cannot ... more Naked foil bolometers can reflect a significant fraction of incident energy and therefore cannot be used for absolute measurements. This paper outlines a novel coating approach to address this problem by blackening the surface of gold foil bolometers using physical vapour deposition. An experimental bolometer was built containing four standard gold foil bolometers, of which two were coated with 100+ nm of carbon. All bolometers were collimated and observed the same relatively high temperature, ohmically heated plasma. Preliminary results showed 13%-15% more incident power was measured by the coated bolometers and this is expected to be much higher in future TCV detached divertor experiments.

Research paper thumbnail of Spectroscopic investigations of divertor detachment in TCV

The aim of this work is to provide an understanding of detachment at TCV with emphasis on analysi... more The aim of this work is to provide an understanding of detachment at TCV with emphasis on analysis of the Balmer line emission. A new Divertor Spectroscopy System has been developed for this purpose. Further development of Balmer line analysis techniques has allowed detailed information to be extracted on free-free and three-body recombination. During density ramps, the plasma at the target detaches as inferred from a drop in density at, and ion current to, the target. At the same time the Balmer 6 → 2 and 7 → 2 line emission near the target is dominated by recombination, indicating that the ionization region has also detached from the target to be replaced by a recombining region with densities more than a factor 2 higher than at the target. As the core density increases further, the density and recombination rate are rising all along the outer leg to the x-point while remaining highest at the target. Even at the highest core densities accessed (Greenwald fraction 0.7) the peaks in...

Research paper thumbnail of Plasma production and turbulence studies in the toroidal device TORPEX

ABSTRACT TORPEX is a device for studying turbulence and transport, in which toroidal plasmas (n≃1... more ABSTRACT TORPEX is a device for studying turbulence and transport, in which toroidal plasmas (n≃10^17 m-3, T_e≃10 eV) are produced by microwaves at f=2.45GHz in the electron cyclotron (EC) range. The mechanisms for the EC wave absorption and sustainment of plasmas with different profiles are investigated as a function of the B-field configuration, gas pressure and injected power. In addition to the broad ionization from bulk electrons, a localized source is provided by electrons accelerated at the upper hybrid resonant layer, where most of the microwave power is absorbed. Different plasma profiles correspond to different fluctuation characteristics, measured by Langmuir probes. Argon plasmas are usually characterized by coherent peaks with f ˜ 10kHz, identified as drift waves, and by large-scale structures that move in the ExB direction, while Hydrogen plasmas appear more turbulent and show no evidence of coherent structures. Experiments on the link between the plasma production scenarios, determining the plasma profiles, and the characteristics of the fluctuations, are discussed.

Research paper thumbnail of Confinement regimes in simple magnetized toroidal plasmas

Research paper thumbnail of Effect of the magnetic configuration on fluctuations and turbulence in the TORPEX toroidal plasma

Research paper thumbnail of Interchange instabilities, turbulence and fast ion interactions in the TORPEX device

ABSTRACT Electrostatic turbulence, related structures and their effect on transport are investiga... more ABSTRACT Electrostatic turbulence, related structures and their effect on transport are investigated on TORPEX simple magnetized plasmas using high resolution diagnostics and several control parameters, fluid models and numerical simulations. A critical pressure gradient to drive the interchange instability is experimentally identified, consistently with linear theory. Interchange modes nonlinearly develop blobs, radially propagating filaments of enhanced plasma pressure. Blob velocities and sizes are obtained from probe measurements using pattern recognition and are described by an analytical expression that includes ion polarization currents, parallel sheath currents and ion-neutral collisions. Limiter configurations with varying angles between field lines and the metal surface are explored. To complement probe data, a fast framing camera and a movable gas puff system are installed. Density and light fluctuations show similar signatures of drift-interchange activity. Further developments of optical diagnostics, including an image intensifier and LIF, will be discussed. The effect of interchange turbulence on fast ion phase space dynamics is studied using movable fast ion source and detector in scenarios for which the development from linear waves into blobs is fully characterized.

Research paper thumbnail of Transport de chaleur électronique dans un tokamak par simulation numérique directe d'une turbulence de petite échelle

Research paper thumbnail of Experimental characterization of drift-interchange instabilities in a simple toroidal plasma

Research paper thumbnail of Recent TCV Results - Innovative Plasma Shaping to Improve Plasma Properties and Insight

Plasma and Fusion Research, 2012

Research paper thumbnail of X -Point-Position-Dependent Intrinsic Toroidal Rotation in the Edge of the TCV Tokamak

Physical Review Letters, 2015

ABSTRACT

Research paper thumbnail of Experimental investigation of neon seeding in the snowflake configuration in TCV

Journal of Nuclear Materials, 2015

ABSTRACT