Impact of impurity seeding and divertor conditions on transitions, pedestal structure and ELMs

Future devices will require a high scrape-off later (SOL) density and impurity seeding to avoid high-Z sputtering. However, these operational parameters are not included in present-day scaling laws, making extrapolations to larger devices difficult. As such, understanding the physics of such effects is vital in order to design the operational scenarios most favorable to high fusion gain. This review presents the favorable lowering of L-H transition power by changing to metal walled devices and sumarises the effects currently thought to be responsible for how SOL geometry can play a role in determining this threshold. Experimental observations on changes to the pedestal structure with main ion fuelling and low-, medium-, and high-Z impurity seeding are presented. These results, from several devices, show that main ion fuelling or high density operation can result in a lower pedestal top pressure, and hence reduced stored energy, while impurity seeding can recover this lost pressure. Particular focus is given to nitrogen seeded discharges and the recovery of pedestal parameters (notably high T-e,(ped)) in JET and AUG since the changeover to metal walls in these devices. Lithium seeding is also emerging as a strong actuator in pedestal dynamics, with results ranging from a prolonged inter-ELM period to completely ELM-free scenarios on different devices. ELM dynamics are also presented in each section, with nitrogen seeding offering a probe into the structure of the ELM and demonstrating the difference between the initial ELM crash, likely due to a sharp MHD event, and a prolonged second phase, the origin of which remains unknown. Finally, modelling of the pedestal in impurity seeded scenarios reveals a common effect in the position of the density profile. Either through mode excitation near to the separatrix or an altered fuelling profile, seeding of impurities results in an inward shift of the density profile. This inward shift improves MHD stability, allowing access to regions of higher pressure gradient and current density, and, hence, offering a promising operational scenario for future devices.