Improved plasma performance on large helical device

Since the start of the Large Helical Device (LHD) experiment, various attempts have been made to achieve improved plasma performance in LHD [A. Iiyoshi , Nucl. Fusion 39, 1245 (1999)]. Recently, an inward-shifted configuration with a magnetic axis position R-ax of 3.6 m has been found to exhibit much better plasma performance than the standard configuration with R-ax of 3.75 m. A factor of 1.6 enhancement of energy confinement time was achieved over the International Stellarator Scaling 95. This configuration has been predicted to have unfavorable magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) properties, based on linear theory, even though it has significantly better particle-orbit properties, and hence lower neoclassical transport loss. However, no serious confinement degradation due to the MHD activities was observed, resolving favorably the potential conflict between stability and confinement at least up to the realized volume-averaged beta < beta > of 2.4%. An improved radial profile of electron temperature was also achieved in the configuration with magnetic islands, minimized by an external perturbation coil system for the Local Island Divertor (LID). The LID has been proposed for remarkable improvement of plasma confinement like the high (H) mode in tokamaks, and the LID function was suggested in limiter experiments. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.