IMPROVED CONFINEMENT AND STABILITY IN THE DIII-D TOKAMAK OBTAINED THROUGH MODIFICATION OF THE CURRENT PROFILE

Improvement in both the energy confinement time and the achievable value of normalized beta is obtained by modifying the current density profile from the relatively broad shape obtained in standard tokamak discharges to a more peaked shape. The peaked current profile is produced with either a rapid negative ramp in the total plasma current or a rapid increase in the discharge elongation. Discharges have been obtained with beta(N)=beta/(I/aB)=6% mT/MA simultaneously with total energy confinement time two times the value predicted by L-mode scaling relations. Up to a factor of 1.8 improvement in the normalized thermal energy confinement time, tau(th)/I(p), has been obtained in both L-mode and H-mode discharges. It is shown that the increase in confinement can be attributed to a local decrease in the thermal diffusivity that is correlated with a local increase in the poloidal magnetic field and the magnetic shear.