Plasma-Heating In Jet

Heating the JET plasma well above temperatures reached in the ohmic phase is the aim of the two additional heating systems planned for JET: ion cyclotron resonance heating (ICRF) and neutral beam injection (NBI). Operations with the latter started in February 1986, initially with hydrogen injection, up to a power level of 7 MW. ICRF power has been delivered to the plasma by three antennae and has reached power levels of 6 MW for 2 s. In most experiments, the frequency of the waves is adjusted to position the minority ion resonance layer close to the centre of the discharge, resulting in a centrally peaked power deposition profile. Results have also shown that the increase of the volume averaged electron temperature was much less dependent on the radial position of the ion resonance layer than were the central temperatures of both ions and electrons which can both approach 5 keV. In cases of 'on axis' heating, large increases in the sawtooth activity is observed with sawtooth periods exceeding 0.3 s. Initial results with NBI have shown a decrease of the global energy confinement time with additional power similar to the one observed with ICRF heating.