Plasma current dependence of the edge pedestal height in JET ELM-free H-modes

Some models for the suppression of turbulence in the L to H transition, suggest that the width of the H-mode edge barrier is either proportional or is of the order of the thermal or the fast-ion poloidal Larmor radius. This would require that the width of the edge barrier should depend on the plasma current. This dependence has been clearly verified at JET in experiments designed to control the edge MHD stability of ELM-free hot-ion H-mode plasmas. The effects of isotopic mass and the applicability of several edge barrier models to the hot-ion H-mode plasmas were analysed in (Guo H Y et al 2000 Edge transport barrier in JET hot-ion H-modes Nucl. Fusion 40 69) using a large database containing both deuterium-only and deuterium-tritium plasmas. This database has now been enlarged to include discharges from a plasma shape scan, allowing one to study the dependence of the pedestal height on the edge shear. In addition, the range of plasma currents was extended up to 6 MA. It is shown that the edge data are best described by a model where the edge barrier width is determined by the fast ions weighted towards the components with largest poloidal Larmor radii. However, it is not possible to conclusively eliminate the thermal ion model.