Heating and non-inductive current drive by negative ion based NBI in JT-60U

Abstract

The current drive and heating properties of negative ion based NBI have been studied comprehensively in JT-60U. It has been confirmed from shine-through measurements of the injected beam (350 keV) that multistep ionization processes are essential in the ionization processes of high energy particles. The profile of the current density driven by a negative ion based NB (N-NB) has been determined experimentally. This is in good agreement with the theoretical prediction, and N-NB driven current reached 0.6 MA with EB = 360 keV and PINJ = 3.7 MW. The current drive efficiency ηCD is increased by increasing electron temperature and improved by increasing beam energy. The fast ions from N-NBs are well confined in the enhanced confinement core by the weak poloidal magnetic field of reversed shear plasmas. A clear H mode transition was obtained with N-NB dominant heating, where the net absorbed power required for an H mode transition seemed similar to the previous result obtained in JT-60U using a low energy beam (90 keV). With the strong electron heating by N-NBI (80% absorbed by electrons), an H factor ( = τE/τITER-89PLE) of 1.64 with Te(0) = 1.4Ti(0) was obtained in the steady state ELMy phase.