Novel flow rotation measurements based on charge exchange recombination spectroscopy at the inboard midplane of the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak reveal the existence of an asymmetric flow structure at the H-mode edge, which is shown to arise due to a poloidal impurity density asymmetry. A quantitative evaluation of the impurity density at the inboard side demonstrates that the impurities redistribute along the flux surface, resulting in a poloidal dependency of the impurity density. The poloidal and toroidal impurity flows measured at the high-field side (HFS) and low-field side (LFS) are compared to theoretical predictions based on the parallel momentum balance, which includes friction, inertia, pressure and electric force. Both a fluid and a kinetic approach are used, showing good agreement with each other. The measured impurity flow structure is described by the model quantitatively when a finite poloidal main ion flow of ∼2 km s−1 arises, which is in keeping with the standard neoclassical prediction. The interplay of all terms, in particular the inclusion of the impurity inertia term, is important in reproducing the observed flow structure and results in an impurity accumulation at the HFS. The existence of a poloidal impurity density asymmetry in the edge transport barrier slightly reduces the drift parameter v/D, however, the experimental value is consistent with standard neoclassical theory. This demonstrates that despite the asymmetry in the impurity density, the impurity particle transport is at the neoclassical level.
On mechanisms of impurity leakage and retention in the tokamak divertor