The xenon spectrum, excited in ECR- and NBI-heated plasmas with central electron densities of around 10(20) m(-3) and central electron temperatures from 0.7 to 2.5keV, has been studied photoelectrically with a multichannel grazing-incidence spectrometer. Besides numerous well-known lines of Zn- and Cu-like Xenon, more than 50 additional lines which have not yet been published in the literature have been found and partly identified,.

During the last shutdown the Stellarator W7-AS underwent two major modifications: First, the limiters were replaced by ten divertor modules, and the diagnostic set associated with the plasma boundary and target plate regions was greatly expanded. Secondly, the previously counter tangential neutral beam injector box was shifted to a co-position. Thus, the heating efficiency should be considerably increased at low magnetic fields and high densities. After resuming experiments these improvements will be used to test the boundary island divertor concept and further expand operational boundaries during the remaining experimental time until permanent shutdown in 2002. The present operational boundaries are reviewed with respect to the stability of high β and density limit discharges. Discharges with good confinement properties will be discussed where further progress was achieved after installing control coils to modify the size and properties of vacuum field islands. In contrast to the usual net-current free mode, W7-AS also allows operation at large toroidal currents. In this way disruption-like events in the presence of rather large external poloidal fields can be produced.

Density limit discharges in the W7-AS stellarator with a strong density ramp were compared to a series of discharges with constant line integrated density approaching the maximum value achieved in the density ramp. The physics of the density limit in stellarators was demonstrated to be consistent with the predictions of the two-point model, indicating that this model successfully describes the density limit process in both stellarators and tokamaks. The discharges with a strong density ramp were found to have broader density profiles than those discharges with constant line integrated density. The latter discharges had the electron density profile form found in the improved confinement H-NBI mode on W7-AS. Modeling of the radiation profile, to simultaneously match the measured bolometer and soft X-ray radial profiles of radiated power, implies that impurity density profiles were peaked and continuously increased during the discharge. The increase in radiated power decreased the net deposited power to the plasma and the diamagnetic energy fell. The aim of producing steady-state discharges at the highest possible density is aided by the reduction of impurity sources by helium glow discharge cleaning.

Nitrogen was injected into separatrix-dominated discharges with magnetic islands at the plasma edge or limiter-dominated discharges with smooth open flux surfaces. The injection caused an increase of the plasma radiation and a strong decrease of the electron temperature at the plasma edge. The influence of the magnetic configuration at the plasma edge on the radiation pattern seems to be marginal in W7-AS.

In order to study impurity transport and radiation behavior nitrogen has been injected into the scrape-off plasma of limiter-dominated discharges by gas puffing or into natural magnetic islands at the plasma edge of separatrix-dominated discharges by a reciprocating erosion probe. Strong radiative plasma edge cooling with a reduction of the power flux to the limiter could be obtained. The accompanied degradation of the energy confinement and the observed decrease of the central electron temperature can partly be explained by the reduction of the effective heating power. At high plasma densities and sufficiently strong impurity injection phenomena well known from tokamaks, like plasma shrinking, plasma detachment from the limiters and MARFE's were transiently observed.

A maximum entropy approach has been applied to the tomographic inversion of the line integrated measurements of radiation power flux by a multichannel bolometer system. This method was applied to an H-mode discharge in the W7-AS stellarator, with increasing radiation from the plasma core after the transition being observed. Also, a neutral beam injection discharge was investigated, and the time evolution of a marfe was documented. This method has also been applied to the preliminary design of a multicamera system for full tomographic reconstruction in the W7-X stellarator. In addition, measurements with wire mesh shielded metal foil bolometers have been carried out and the shielding of these bolometers from microwaves produced by the 140 GHz gyrotrons used for electron cyclotron heating has been demonstrated.

Edge plasma scenarios in W7-AS island divertor configurations ("natural" magnetic boundary islands intersected by targets) are studied by comparing data from moderate to high density NBI discharges with 3D code (EMC3/EIRENE) results. The data strongly indicate that, different from limiter scenarios, stable high recycling with significant particle nux enhancement was achieved in this geometry. However, the open target geometry as well as a relatively strong plasma pressure drop along field lines within the power carrying layer, in particular also at moderate density, restrict high recycling to a narrow density range at (n) over bar(e) greater than or similar to 10(20) m(-3). The pressure drop is, at low to marginal high recycling, predominantly balanced by cross field transfer of parallel momentum towards the private flux region due to particle diffusion and viscosity; at fully established high recycling CX momentum losses become effective. These scenarios are also in basic agreement with B2/EIRENE code predictions. At (n) over bar(e) greater than or similar to 1.5x10(20) m(-3) detachment is observed. Improvements are expected from additional coils controlling the field line pitch inside the islands, and from optimized, helically more extended targets with baffles. Both additions are in preparation.

Electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) at the W7-AS stellarator is performed two systems of comparable heating power at 70 GHz (0.8 MW, 3 s) and 140 GHz (0.9 MW, 0.4 s). Experiments with 140 GHz open a new parameter window with high density operation up to 1.1 × 1020 m−3. H mode transitions were observed in high density discharges at 2.5 T and at lower density at 1.25 T. The operational window for the stellarator H mode with emphasis on the density and power threshold and the influence of gas puffing on the H transitions are discussed. Perturbation experiments with modulated ECRH power were performed to determine the heat transport and the power deposition profile. Density control is achieved in combined heating with neutral beam injection (NBI) despite the beam particle fuelling, whereas with NBI alone a steady density rise is observed. The impact of combined heating on the impurity confinement was investigated. Electron cyclotron current drive (ECCD) was studied in different magnetic field configurations and the influence of trapped particles on the ECCD efficiency was examined experimentally and compared with theory.

In the modular advanced stellarator W7-AS, the plasma performance and the main characteristics of the plasma-wall interaction are strongly affected by the three-dimensional edge topology. Both limiter- and separatrix-dominated configurations are possible. TiC and bulk-boronized limiter materials have been used. The impurity behaviour and the accessible plasma parameter ranges are compared for different limiter and wall conditions. With limiters, optimum plasma performance in currentless ECRF- or NBI-heated discharges was achieved with bulk-boronized graphite limiter material and boronized walls. Solid target sputter boronization, however, was found to be ineffective in comparison with boronization by He/B2H6 glow discharges. For separatrix-dominated discharges, conditioning by wall coating has short-term effects only. Enhanced, localized plasma outflow to the wall due to islands at the boundary quickly erodes the layers. The possibility to develop a divertor concept is discussed. Basic properties of the plasma edge as derived from Langmuir probes and limiter calorimetry are described. Modeling is complicated by three-dimensionality. In a first approach, a 1D edge transport model on the basis of distinct flux bundles is applied.

For a limiter defined SOL, as given by small values of the rotational transform, the edge topology of W7-AS is characterized by large flux bundles distributed regularly over the poloidal angle. These bundles are poloidally decoupled to a good approximation, as indicated by 2D resolved Langmuir probe data. Therefore, for iota less-than-or-equal-to 0.4, a 1D radial plasma model is a reasonable first step to provide a qualitative description of the transport in the W7-AS boundary layer. The toroidal variation of the flux bundle geometry is taken into account by averaging the transport equations along the corresponding field lines. The effects of the neutral gas sources and the sensitivity of the diffusion coefficient to the unknown T(i) profile are discussed. A iota scan of the diffusion coefficient shows a minimum at iota congruent-to 0.35, where smooth magnetic surfaces exist throughout the SOL. This suggests that topological effects related to perturbations at the ''natural'' 5/m resonances may be responsible for the observed iota dependence of the diffusion coefficient.