Characterization of enhanced Dα high-confinement modes in Alcator C-Mod

Regimes of high-confinement mode have been studied in the Alcator C-Mod tokamak Hutchinson et al., Phys. Plasmas 1, 1511 (1994). Plasmas with no edge localized modes (ELM-free) have been compared in detail to a new regime, enhanced Dα (EDA). EDA discharges have only slightly lower energy confinement than comparable ELM-free ones, but show markedly reduced impurity confinement. Thus EDA discharges do not accumulate impurities and typically have a lower fraction of radiated power. The edge gradients in EDA seem to be relaxed by a continuous process rather than an intermittent one as is the case for standard ELMy discharges and thus do not present the first wall with large periodic heat loads. This process is probably related to fluctuations seen in the plasma edge. EDA plasmas are more likely at low plasma current (q3.7), for moderate plasma shaping, (triangularity ∼0.35–0.55), and for high neutral pressures. As observed in soft x-ray emission, the pedestal width is found to scale with the same parameters that determine the EDA/ELM-free boundary.