The toroidal rotation of $H$-mode plasmas in ASDEX Upgrade is studied in the outermost 5 cm of the confined plasma. The projection of the rotation velocity along the line of sight (approximately toroidal) is measured using charge exchange recombination spectroscopy, with a radial resolution of up to 3 mm and a temporal resolution of 1.9 ms. At about 1 cm inside the separatrix the rotation exhibits a local minimum. From there, the rotation in codirection increases towards the plasma center and towards the separatrix. The latter increase is the focus of this work. It is situated in the region of the edge transport barrier and amounts to $10–20\mathrm{km}/\mathrm{s}$. It is observed for ${\mathrm{D}}^{+}$, ${\mathrm{He}}^{2+}$, ${\mathrm{B}}^{5+}$, and ${\mathrm{C}}^{6+}$. The described rotation feature at the edge is not visible during an ELM crash and is probably connected to the occurrence of steep gradients in this plasma region.

• Received 4 August 2008

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.025001