As part the DTE2 campaign in the JET tokamak, we conducted a parameter scan in T and D-T complementing existing pulses in H and D. For the different main ion masses, type-I ELMy H-modes at fixed plasma current and magnetic field can have the pedestal pressure varying by a factor of 4 and the total pressure changing from to 3.0. We investigated the pedestal and core isotope mass dependencies using this extensive data set. The pedestal shows a strong mass dependence on the density, which influences the core due to the strong coupling between both plasma regions. To better understand the causes for the observed isotope mass dependence in the pedestal, we analysed the interplay between heat and particle transport and the edge localised mode (ELM) stability. For this purpose, we developed a dynamic ELM cycle model with basic transport assumptions and a realistic neutral penetration. The temporal evolution and resulting ELM frequency introduce an additional experimental constraint that conventional quasi-stationary transport analysis cannot provide. Our model shows that a mass dependence in the ELM stability or in the transport alone cannot explain the observations. One requires a mass dependence in the ELM stability as well as one in the particle sources. The core confinement time increases with pedestal pressure for all isotope masses due to profile stiffness and electromagnetic turbulence stabilisation. Interestingly, T and D-T plasmas show an improved core confinement time compared to H and D plasmas even for matched pedestal pressures. For T, this improvement is largely due to the unique pedestal composition of higher densities and lower temperatures than H and D. With a reduced gyroBohm factor at lower temperatures, more turbulent drive in the form of steeper gradients is required to transport the same amount of heat. This picture is supported by quasilinear flux-driven modelling using TGLF-SAT2 within Astra. With the experimental boundary condition TGLF-SAT2 predicts the core profiles well for gyroBohm heat fluxes , however, overestimates the heat and particle transport closer to the turbulent threshold.
Overview of the isotope effects in the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak