Quasi-symmetric error field correction and applications to ITER

Abstract

Reliable correction of nonaxisymmetric error fields (EFs) is essential to the safety and performance of tokamak operation. Although resonant error field correction (EFC) is well established, supported by an improved understanding of 3D plasma response, the residual fields left after resonant EFC remain an open question: they are expected to be predominantly nonresonant, yet can still degrade both confinement and stability. Here we introduce a systematic EFC scheme that minimizes resonant and nonresonant EF effects simultaneously, based on neoclassical torque response computed from self-consistent perturbed equilibria. The scheme extends the method developed for designing quasi-symmetric magnetic perturbations to the case where actual error fields are present. Application to standard ITER target plasmas with a range of intrinsic EF scenarios demonstrates the advantages of this quasi-symmetric (QS) EFC scheme for controlling residual EFs. QS EFC consistently yields low-torque solutions while strongly suppressing resonant response, outperforming single-mode resonant overlap EFC in most cases and approaching the performance of multimodal resonant EFC. We also show that the QS EFC solution varies only tolerably between half- and full-$I_p$ ITER scenarios, despite the greater sensitivity expected from its higher-order nature.