High performance discharges near the operational limit in HT-7

Efforts have been made on the HT-7 tokamak to extend the stable operation boundaries. Extensive RF boronization and siliconization have been used and a wider operational Hugill diagram has been obtained. The transit density reached 1.3 times the Greenwald density limit in ohmic discharges. A stationary high performance discharge with q_a = 2.1 has been obtained after siliconization. Confinement improvement was obtained as a result of the significant reduction of electron thermal diffusivity χ_e in the outer region of the plasma. An improved confinement phase was also observed with LHCD in the density range of 70-120% of the Greenwald density limit. Off-axis LH wave power deposition was attributed to the weak hollow current density profile. Code simulations and measurements showed good agreement with the off-axis LH wave deposition. Supersonic molecular beam injection has been successfully used to achieve stable high density operation in the region of the Greenwald density limit.