A helical magnetic limiter for boundary layer control in large tokamaks

In a tokamak configuration, superposition of the magnetic field of resonant helical windings which surround the toroidal plasma current outside the first wall destroys the magnetic surfaces in the boundary layer (ergodization). A transport model is analysed, where convective flow of the plasma from the boundary layer to the first wall permits elevated particle densities in the boundary layer and leads to very high particle and energy transport. The convective flow is driven by the pressure gradient along the field lines which intersect the toroidal wall at an oblique small angle . The required thickness Δ of the boundary layer is around 10¹⁵ n⁻¹·cm⁻². As a result, the plasma temperature there can be reduced towards the threshold of critical plasma-wall-interaction processes, the plasma core can be shielded against impurities from the wall and, at the same time, a very short life-time of all particles in the boundary layer can be achieved (use of pumpholes and/or scrape-off-limiters for removing ash). Thus, this model also improves the concepts of edge radiation cooling. An estimate is given of the parameters of INTOR using only a weak helical perturbation field which conserves the magnetic surfaces in the plasma core: one can reach wall temperatures T_w between 20 and 30 eV in the presence of wall densities n_w approaching 10¹⁴cm⁻³.