Momentum confinement at low torque

Momentum confinement was investigated on DIII-D as a function of applied neutral beam torque at constant normalized {beta}{sub N}, by varying the mix of co (parallel to the plasma current) and counter neutral beams. Under balanced neutral beam injection (i.e. zero total torque to the plasma), the plasma maintains a significant rotation in the co-direction. This 'intrinsic' rotation can be modeled as being due to an offset in the applied torque (i.e. an 'anomalous torque'). This anomalous torque appears to have a magnitude comparable to one co-neutral beam source. The presence of such an anomalous torque source must be taken into account to obtain meaningful quantities describing momentum transport, such as the global momentum confinement time and local diffusivities. Studies of the mechanical angular momentum in ELMing H-mode plasmas with elevated q{sub min} show that the momentum confinement time improves as the torque is reduced. In hybrid plasmas, the opposite effect is observed, namely that momentum confinement improves at high torque/rotation. The relative importance of E x B shearing between the two is modeled using GLF23 and may suggest a possible explanation.