I-mode in non-deuterium plasmas in ASDEX Upgrade

Abstract The I-mode confinement regime in non-deuterium plasmas has been investigated in the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak. We report the first experimental observations on the existence and the main characteristics of this regime in hydrogen and helium plasmas and compare them with deuterium I-modes. Hydrogen features a higher power threshold to enter I-mode and a higher electron edge pressure at the L- to I-mode transition with respect to deuterium. Furthermore, all the hydrogen I-modes obtained exhibit pedestal relaxation events (PRE). The I-mode power window in hydrogen is found to be 2–3 times larger than in deuterium. This property allows a better characterization of PRE and to differentiate them from type-III ELMs. Helium I-modes feature properties which are similar to those of deuterium I-modes. The analysis on the minimum of the edge radial electric field E r shows a correlation between the E r minimum, the net input power and the ion diamagnetic term in the ion radial force balance. Indications of the dominant role of the edge ion temperature in the evolution of the radial electric field with increasing input power are also reported.