Control of neoclassical tearing modes in large tokamaks

Abstract

Some self-consistent effects pertaining to feedback control of neoclassical tearing modes in high temperature large tokamaks are investigated. For the ECRH scheme of local electron heating, it is shown that the self-consistent bootstrap currents created by the driven pressure gradients within the island are comparable to those due to the usually considered resistivity change mechanism. Similar self-consistent currents can also arise from pressure gradients created by density and energy deposition from neutral beams, thereby offering a new possibility for neoclassical mode control. The stabilizing current in such an application of neutral beams is estimated. It is further shown that such a feedback scheme can be made even more effective through appropriate modulation of the beam source to match the phase variation arising from the island rotation.