• Accepted Paper

Resonant-magnetic-perturbation-driven edge-localized mode suppression in high-performance double-null plasmas

Q. Hu et al.

PRX Energy - Accepted 2 November, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/lwnb-5hsh

Abstract

We report complete suppression of edge-localized modes (ELMs) using n = 3 resonant magnetic perturbations (RMPs) in strongly shaped, high-performance plasmas spanning from single-null across to double-null configurations on the DIII-D tokamak. While complete RMP ELM suppression has historically remained difficult to access in double-null topologies due to substantially reduced plasma response, this work demonstrates robust suppression over a broad magnetic configuration range (dRsep = 0–3 cm) by exploiting strong shaping while maintaining excellent confinement (H98 ≈ 1.7, βN > 2.5). This regime achieves substantially higher confinement quality than conventional RMP ELM-suppressed scenarios (H98 ≈ 1.0), which typically suffer from severe confinement degradation and density pump-out. Combined experimental and modeling analysis reveals a new physical pathway: strong shaping establishes a high-performance peeling-limited pedestal that amplifies the resonant plasma response by nearly a factor of two, overcoming the reduced RMP coupling inherent to double-null geometries. Furthermore, this regime enables a spatial decoupling of the plasma response between the pedestal top and foot, generating sufficient perturbation at the pedestal top to enforce ELM suppression while minimizing the pedestal-foot response responsible for density pump-out and confinement degradation. These results demonstrate the compatibility of RMP ELM suppression and high performance in double-null configurations, providing a viable pathway for future fusion device operation with exhaust handling alongside a stable edge.

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