Towards detachment-compatible I-mode plasma on EAST tokamak

Abstract The divertor detachment is important for the improved confinement mode (I-mode) to serve as a reliable operating scenario in future fusion reactors. A reproducible steady-state I-mode operation with the energy detachment of the inner target has been achieved with the lower single-null configuration on the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST). Compared to the high confinement mode (H-mode), I-mode has a lower electron temperature on the inner divertor target and can achieve energy detachment at a lower density. In addition, dedicated experiments on neon (Ne) seeding to assist the exhaust of steady-state heat flux in I-mode discharges have also been successfully carried out on EAST. A significant reduction of the particle flux caused by the Ne impurity radiation was observed at both inner and outer divertor targets without I-L back-transition on EAST for the first time. This may be due to the ‘corner effect’ of the EAST right-angled divertor with a high divertor closure, which can effectively trap the impurity particles and thus reduce the influence of impurity on the main plasma. Furthermore, good core-edge compatibility was also obtained in the detached I-mode plasma with a radiative divertor. This study offers an attractive scenario of I-mode operation for avoiding excessively high transient and steady-state heat loads simultaneously in future fusion reactors.

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Publication Details

Journal
Nuclear Fusion
Published
2025-05-23
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1088/1741-4326/addc80
Primary Topic
Magnetic confinement fusion research
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Towards detachment-compatible I-mode plasma on EAST tokamak

Qingquan Yang, X. Zhong, Zixi Liu, Tianfu Zhou et al.
Nuclear Fusion
Magnetic confinement fusion research
article

Towards detachment-compatible I-mode plasma on EAST tokamak

Qingquan Yang, X. Zhong, Zixi Liu, Tianfu Zhou, Adi Liu, Guosheng Xu, R.R. Liang, Kedong Li, Xin Lin, Lin Yu, Ziqiang Zhou, Tianqi Jia, Liqing Xu, L.Y. Meng, Yuntao Song, Yifei Jin, Bin Zhang, Liye Wang, Yanmin Duan, Ling Zhang, Min‐Rui Wang, Qing Zang, Haiqing Liu, Xiao Lan Zou
article en

Abstract

Abstract The divertor detachment is important for the improved confinement mode (I-mode) to serve as a reliable operating scenario in future fusion reactors. A reproducible steady-state I-mode operation with the energy detachment of the inner target has been achieved with the lower single-null configuration on the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST). Compared to the high confinement mode (H-mode), I-mode has a lower electron temperature on the inner divertor target and can achieve energy detachment at a lower density. In addition, dedicated experiments on neon (Ne) seeding to assist the exhaust of steady-state heat flux in I-mode discharges have also been successfully carried out on EAST. A significant reduction of the particle flux caused by the Ne impurity radiation was observed at both inner and outer divertor targets without I-L back-transition on EAST for the first time. This may be due to the ‘corner effect’ of the EAST right-angled divertor with a high divertor closure, which can effectively trap the impurity particles and thus reduce the influence of impurity on the main plasma. Furthermore, good core-edge compatibility was also obtained in the detached I-mode plasma with a radiative divertor. This study offers an attractive scenario of I-mode operation for avoiding excessively high transient and steady-state heat loads simultaneously in future fusion reactors.

Nuclear FusionVol. 65(7)
University of Science and Technology of China (CN), Shenzhen University (CN), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives (FR), Yulin Normal University (CN), Hefei Institutes of Physical Science (CN), CEA Cadarache (FR), Institute of Plasma Physics (CN)
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Openalex Percentile: Top 95%
Magnetic confinement fusion research
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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