Measurements of fast-ion transport by mode-particle resonances on DIII-D

Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) instabilities in tokamak plasmas manifest in a variety of ways, characterized by different scale lengths and mode frequencies. MHD activity can cause significant degradation of plasma performance due to transport of particles, energy and current. Among the many different types of MHD, arguably fishbones, sawteeth and Alfvén eigenmodes (AEs) are observed to cause the largest fluxes of superthermal ions. DIII-D's expansive suite of diagnostics makes it possible to rigorously characterize these instabilities and study their interaction with fast ions. This review paper first presents an overview of the recent additions to DIII-D's collection of fast-ion diagnostics. The extended diagnostic capabilities are employed in a series of experiments to investigate fast-ion dynamics in the presence of fishbones, sawteeth and AEs. Results from these seemingly unrelated studies are highlighted, and they reveal that mode-particle resonances play the central role in the observed deterioration of fast-ion confinement. © 2012 IAEA, Vienna