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The WEGA stellarator is used to confine low temperature, overdense (densities exceeding the cut-off density of the heating wave) plasmas by magnetic fields in the range of B=50-500 mT. Microwave heating systems are used to ignite gas discharges using hydrogen, helium, neon or argon as working gases. The produced plasmas have been analyzed using Langmuir and emissive probes, a single-channel interferometer and ultra-high resolution Doppler spectroscopy. For a typical argon discharge in the low field operation, B=56 mT, the maximum electron density is n_e~10^18m^{-3} with temperatures in the range of T=4-12 eV. The plasma parameters are determined by using Langmuir probes and are cross-checked with interferometry. It is demonstrated within this work that the joint use of emissive probes and ultra-high resolution Doppler spectroscopy allows a precise measurement of the radial electric field. Here the floating potential measurements using emissive probes have been compared to measurements of the poloidal rotation of the plasma which is also linked to the radial electric field. In order to alter the plasma parameters a biasing probe setup has been used during this work. The focus of this work is on demonstrating the ability to modify the existing radial electric field in a plasma by using the biasing probe. This technique is in principle not new, as it has been around for decades. Looking at details, it turns out that describing low field operation WEGA argon plasmas in connection with biasing is not covered by the present set of theoretical approaches and experimental cognition. This work will commence with a basic approach and first establishes the diagnostic tools in a well-known discharge. Then the perturbation caused by the biasing probe is assessed. Following the characterization of the unperturbed plasmas, plasma states altered by the operation of the energized biasing probe will be characterized. It is demonstrated that modifying the existing radial electric field can be achieved and reliably diagnosed using spectroscopy and probe measurements. In order to verify the different approaches for determining the radial electric field the diagnostics are cross-checked against another whenever possible. During biasing the plasma two different stable plasma states have been found. Stable here refers to the state existing much longer than the confinement time for WEGA. The presence of a calorimetric limiter placed in the scrape-off layer has an impact on the type of the plasma state. The two observed plasma states differ in plasma parameter profiles, such as density, temperature, electric field and confined energy. The results are compared to two simple models. One model relies on the relevant atomic processes and a second one is based on neoclassical theory. Both models can be used to derive the particle and power flux from the plasma. The losses predicted by the atomic models can be tested using bolometry. It can be shown that both models agree well in the description of the particle balance of the electrons for large regions of the plasma. By comparing the models the neoclassical heat flux turns out to be small compared to the energy fluxes caused by atomic processes. For the reference discharge taking the energy flux due to the atomic processes and balancing it by the input microwave power is satisfying the energy balance, without the need for transport. For the biased discharges it turns out that neoclassical transport can be neglected as well, but the additional biasing power has to be taken into account. A simple model for the biasing power is motivated and tested. An agreement in the energy balance can be reached in this way as far as the models are applicable. The models also allow drawing conclusions on the amount of absorbed microwave power.
The present work is the first work dealing with turbulence in the WEGA stellarator. The main object of this work is to provide a detailed characterisation of electrostatic turbulence in WEGA and to identify the underlying instability mechanism driving turbulence. The spatio-temporal structure of turbulence is studied using multiple Langmuir probes providing a sufficiently high spatial and temporal resolution. Turbulence in WEGA is dominated by drift wave dynamics. Evidence for this finding is given by several individual indicators which are typical features of drift waves. The phase shift between density and potential fluctuations is close to zero, fluctuations are mainly driven by the density gradient, and the phase velocity of turbulent structures points in the direction of the electron diamagnetic drift. The structure of turbulence is studied mainly in the plasma edge region inside the last closed flux surface. WEGA can be operated in two regimes differing in the magnetic field strength by almost one order of magnitude (57mT and 500mT, respectively). The two regimes turned out to show a strong difference in the turbulence dynamics. At 57mT large structures with a poloidal extent comparable to the machine dimensions are observed, whereas at 500mT turbulent structures are much smaller. The poloidal structure size scales nearly linearly with the inverse magnetic field strength. This scaling may be argued to be related to the drift wave dispersion scale. However, the structure size remains unchanged when the ion mass is changed by using different discharge gases. Inside the last closed flux surface the poloidal ExB drift in WEGA is negligible. The observed phase velocity is in good agreement with the electron diamagnetic drift velocity. The energy in the wavenumber-frequency spectrum is distributed in the vicinity of the drift wave dispersion relation. The three-dimensional structure is studied in detail using probes which are toroidally separated but aligned along connecting magnetic field lines. As expected for drift waves a small but finite parallel wavenumber is found. The ratio between the average parallel and perpendicular wavenumber is in the order of 10^-2. The parallel phase velocity of turbulent structures is in-between the ion sound velocity and the Alfvènvelocity. In the parallel dynamics a fundamental difference between the two operational regimes at different magnetic field strength is found. At 500mT turbulent structures can be described as an interaction of wave contributions with parallel wavefronts. At 57mT the energy in the parallel wavenumber spectrum is distributed among wavenumber components pointing both parallel and antiparallel to the magnetic field vector. In both cases turbulent structures arise preferable on the low field side of the torus. Some results on a novel field in plasma turbulence are given, i.e. the study of turbulence as a function of resonant magnetic field perturbations leading to the formation of magnetic islands. Magnetic islands in WEGA can be manipulated by external perturbation coils. A significant influence of field perturbations on the turbulence dynamics is found. A distinct local increase of the fluctuation amplitude and the associated turbulent particle flux is found in the region of magnetic islands.