Edge transport barrier formation and ELM phenomenology in the W7-AS stellarator

In NBI discharges with density ramps in W7-AS, the quiescent H-mode is restricted to the same ranges of the edge rotational transform as in ECRH discharges and occurs above threshold densities ≥ 10 20 m 3 which increase with heating power. Higher power needs higher density for stabilization. The approach to the quiescent H-mode often occurs, with increasing density and decreasing power flow through the edge, from grassy through dithering states to bursts of ELMs and, in a few cases, quasi-periodic ELMs. This goes parallel with increasing radial gradients of the plasma pressure and E-field at the edge. Higher heating power reduces in particular the T i gradients and hence the E-field gradients, which effect can be compensated by higher density. The correlations found are fairly consistent when an E x B flow shear decorrelation of the turbulent transport is assumed.