Extremely low intrinsic non-axisymmetric field in KSTAR and its implications

A surprisingly low level of intrinsic non-axisymmetric field (called 'error field') has been measured in KSTAR, suggesting at least an order of magnitude lower than in other major tokamaks. Specifically, the KSTAR was found to have an extremely low level of pitch resonant intrinsic error field at the m/n = 2/1 surface in the order of 10−5 of the magnetic field at the geometric centre, instead of 10−4 typically observed in other devices. Using a single array of in-vessel control coils (IVCCs) at the outboard midplane, the n = 1 intrinsic error field was diagnosed. Such a low level of intrinsic non-axisymmetric field as measured in KSTAR is less than or comparable to the Earth's magnetic field or a remanent field in the KSTAR plasma chamber. Considering that a very low level of n = 1 intrinsic error field (mostly associated with kink-resonance) helps the plasma to be less vulnerable to mode-locking, this might have allowed the n = 1 resonant magnetic perturbation (RMP) currents (configured to be dominantly pitch-resonant for edge localized mode (ELM) suppression) to increase without invoking a kink-resonant mode-locking, consistent with experimental observation and poloidal mode spectra calculations in KSTAR. Further clarification of the influence of the intrinsic error field in terms of a 3D structure is expected to provide a solid foundation to understand the n = 1 RMP-driven ELM suppression uniquely observed in KSTAR.