Current drive experiments in the helicity injected torus (HIT-II)

The Helicity Injected Torus [HIT-II: T. Jarboe et al., Phys. Plasmas 5, 1807 (1998)] is a low-aspect-ratio tokamak capable of both inductive (ohmic) and Coaxial Helicity Injection (CHI) current drive. HIT-II is modest in size (major radius R=0.3 m, minor radius a=0.2 m, and on-axis toroidal field of up to 0.5 T), but has demonstrated 200 kA of toroidal plasma current, using either CHI or induction separately. The loop voltage, boundary flux, and plasma equilibrium are controlled by a real-time flux feedback system. HIT-II ohmic plasmas exhibit reconnection events during both the current ramp-up and decay, events that relax the current profile while conserving the magnetic helicity. A new operating regime for CHI plasmas, using a double-null divertor (DND) boundary flux, has been explored. DND CHI plasmas exhibit good shot-to-shot reproducibility, low impurity content, minimal shorting current in the absorber region, and EFIT-reconstructed equilibria consistent with significant closed-flux core regions [EF...