High-Resolution MHD Spectroscopy of External Kinks in a Tokamak Plasma

This thesis describes the first results of passive and active MHD spectroscopy experiments on the High Beta Tokamak-Extended Pulse (HBT-EP) device using a new array of magnetic diagnostics and coils. The capabilities of the HBT-EP experiment are significantly extended with the installation of a new adjustable conducting wall, high-power modular control coil arrays, and an extensive set of 216 magnetic sensors that allow simultaneous high-resolution detection of multimode MHD phenomena. The design, construction, and calibration of this system are described. The capability of this new magnetic diagnostic set is demonstrated by biorthogonal decomposition analysis of passive measurements of rotating resistive wall modes (RWMs). A strong multimode effect is detected for the first time in HBT-EP plasmas consisting of the simultaneous existence of m/n=3/1 and 6/2 RWMs which cause the plasma to evolve in a non-rigid multimode manner. Additional mode numbers as high as n=3 are also observed. Active MHD spectroscopy experiments using a "phase-flip" resonant magnetic perturbation (RMP) are able to excite a clear three-dimensional response. By adjusting the helicity of the magnetic field applied by the control coils, the driven plasma response is shown to be predominantly resonant field amplification. When the amplitude of the applied field is not too large, the driven resonant response appears linear, independent of the presence of background MHD phenomena and consistent with the predictions of single-helicity modeling of kink mode dynamics. The spatial structures of both the naturally rotating kink mode and the externally driven response are observed to be identical, while the temporal evolutions are approximately independent. The phase-flip driven plasma response is measured as a function of edge safety factor, plasma rotation, and the amplitude of the applied magnetic perturbation. As the RMP amplitude increases, the plasma response is shown to be linear, saturated, and ultimately, disruptive.