title: Investigations of H-mode plasmas triggered directly by pellet injection in the DIII-D tokamak.
abstract: The transition from low-confinement (L-mode) to high-confinement (H-mode) plasmas has been directly produced by injecting frozen deuterium pellets in the DIII-D tokamak. H-mode transitions were produced at edge electron and ion temperatures below the L-mode values. This implies that a critical edge temperature is not necessary for H-mode transitions. The experimentally determined edge plasma parameters were well below those predicted by several theories of the H-mode transition to trigger the H-mode, indicating a need for revision of these theories.
authors.affiliation: General Atomics, P.O. Box 85608, San Diego, California 92186-5608, USA.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gohil
authors.forename: L R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Baylor
authors.forename: T C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Jernigan
authors.forename: K H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Burrell
authors.forename: T N
authors.initials: TN
authors.lastname: Carlstrom