Effects of Tungsten Radiative Cooling on Impurity, Heat and Momentum Transport in DIII-D Plasmas

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Hauptverfasser: Biwole, A. Tema, Odstrčil, T., Litaudon, X., Shi, S., Ernst, D., Zimmermann, C. F. B., Lestz, J., Howard, N. T., Rodriguez-Fernandez, P., Khabanov, F., Turco, F., Perks, C., Manas, P., Fajardo, D., Kim, S. K., Schmitz, L., Wang, H., Boyes, W., Ding, S., Victor, B., Christal, C., Lasnier, C., Wilks, T. M., McKee, G.
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Veröffentlicht: 2026
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author Biwole, A. Tema
Odstrčil, T.
Litaudon, X.
Shi, S.
Ernst, D.
Zimmermann, C. F. B.
Lestz, J.
Howard, N. T.
Rodriguez-Fernandez, P.
Khabanov, F.
Turco, F.
Perks, C.
Manas, P.
Fajardo, D.
Kim, S. K.
Schmitz, L.
Wang, H.
Boyes, W.
Ding, S.
Victor, B.
Christal, C.
Lasnier, C.
Wilks, T. M.
McKee, G.
author_facet Biwole, A. Tema
Odstrčil, T.
Litaudon, X.
Shi, S.
Ernst, D.
Zimmermann, C. F. B.
Lestz, J.
Howard, N. T.
Rodriguez-Fernandez, P.
Khabanov, F.
Turco, F.
Perks, C.
Manas, P.
Fajardo, D.
Kim, S. K.
Schmitz, L.
Wang, H.
Boyes, W.
Ding, S.
Victor, B.
Christal, C.
Lasnier, C.
Wilks, T. M.
McKee, G.
contents A first-of-its-kind experiment was conducted in the DIII-D tokamak under WEST similarity constraints on plasma shape and core parameters. This work presents a detailed transport study comparing a reference regime dominated by intrinsic carbon radiation and a high-radiation regime resulting from controlled tungsten (W) injection using the Laser Blow-Off system, with a core tungsten concentration $n_{\mathrm{W}}/n_e \sim 3\times 10^{-4}$ and a radiated-power fraction $f_\mathrm{rad}>0.5$. The W-induced radiative cooling lowered the electron temperature, thereby decreasing $T_e/T_i$ and stabilizing trapped-electron-mode (TEM) turbulence. This transition in turbulence regime reduced momentum and ion thermal diffusivities, yielding ion temperature peaking and a factor-of-two increase in toroidal rotation. At the outer plasma region, enhanced $E\timesB$ shear and increased collisionality further suppressed ion-scale turbulence, causing a sharp drop in ion heat flux. Consequently, impurity transport, predominantly turbulent in the low-radiation regime, acquired a strong neoclassical inward W convection during radiative cooling, bootstrapping the cooling cycle. Despite $f_\mathrm{rad}>0.5$, radiative collapse was not observed, likely owing to collisional ion-to-electron energy exchange acting as an electron-energy reservoir, together with $1/1$ MHD activity modulating the radiated power through core impurity neoclassical $T_i$-screening. These results support preparation for a tungsten wall change in DIII-D by elucidating tungsten-induced turbulence stabilization. They also provide key insights for interpreting plasma performance in WEST and are relevant to future reactors expected to operate with radiating tungsten-walled plasmas.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_06096
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Effects of Tungsten Radiative Cooling on Impurity, Heat and Momentum Transport in DIII-D Plasmas
Biwole, A. Tema
Odstrčil, T.
Litaudon, X.
Shi, S.
Ernst, D.
Zimmermann, C. F. B.
Lestz, J.
Howard, N. T.
Rodriguez-Fernandez, P.
Khabanov, F.
Turco, F.
Perks, C.
Manas, P.
Fajardo, D.
Kim, S. K.
Schmitz, L.
Wang, H.
Boyes, W.
Ding, S.
Victor, B.
Christal, C.
Lasnier, C.
Wilks, T. M.
McKee, G.
Plasma Physics
A first-of-its-kind experiment was conducted in the DIII-D tokamak under WEST similarity constraints on plasma shape and core parameters. This work presents a detailed transport study comparing a reference regime dominated by intrinsic carbon radiation and a high-radiation regime resulting from controlled tungsten (W) injection using the Laser Blow-Off system, with a core tungsten concentration $n_{\mathrm{W}}/n_e \sim 3\times 10^{-4}$ and a radiated-power fraction $f_\mathrm{rad}>0.5$. The W-induced radiative cooling lowered the electron temperature, thereby decreasing $T_e/T_i$ and stabilizing trapped-electron-mode (TEM) turbulence. This transition in turbulence regime reduced momentum and ion thermal diffusivities, yielding ion temperature peaking and a factor-of-two increase in toroidal rotation. At the outer plasma region, enhanced $E\timesB$ shear and increased collisionality further suppressed ion-scale turbulence, causing a sharp drop in ion heat flux. Consequently, impurity transport, predominantly turbulent in the low-radiation regime, acquired a strong neoclassical inward W convection during radiative cooling, bootstrapping the cooling cycle. Despite $f_\mathrm{rad}>0.5$, radiative collapse was not observed, likely owing to collisional ion-to-electron energy exchange acting as an electron-energy reservoir, together with $1/1$ MHD activity modulating the radiated power through core impurity neoclassical $T_i$-screening. These results support preparation for a tungsten wall change in DIII-D by elucidating tungsten-induced turbulence stabilization. They also provide key insights for interpreting plasma performance in WEST and are relevant to future reactors expected to operate with radiating tungsten-walled plasmas.
title Effects of Tungsten Radiative Cooling on Impurity, Heat and Momentum Transport in DIII-D Plasmas
topic Plasma Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.06096