ELM suppression by resonant magnetic perturbation in high-performance, stationary plasmas

The method of resonant magnetic perturbation (RMP) has been shown to suppress edge-localized modes (ELMs) in the high-performance, stationary (or ‘hybrid’) scenario in the DIII-D tokamak. Calculations of stability to peeling–ballooning (P–B) modes are shown to be consistent with the observed suppression of type-I ELMs, while the ELM suppression, dependence on edge safety factor and density pump-out are similar for hybrids and standard H-mode discharges. However, other small ELMs can appear when the edge safety factor is outside the resonance window or when the H-mode pedestal is perturbed, which are not related to P–B stability. The role of the edge bootstrap current in determining stochastic heat transport during RMP is discussed.