Effect of gas injection during LH wave coupling at ITER-relevant plasma-wall distances in JET

Good coupling of lower hybrid (LH) waves has been demonstrated in different H-mode scenarios in JET, at high triangularity (δ ∼ 0.4) and at large distance between the last closed flux surface and the LH launcher (up to 15 cm). Local gas injection of D₂ in the region magnetically connected to the LH launcher is used for increasing the local density in the scrape-off layer (SOL). Reciprocating Langmuir probe measurements magnetically connected to the LH launcher indicate that the electron density profile flattens in the far SOL during gas injection and LH power application. Some degradation in normalized H-mode confinement, as given by the H98(y,2)-factor, could be observed at high gas injection rates in these scenarios, but this was rather due to total gas injection and not specifically to the local gas puffing used for LH coupling. Furthermore, experiments carried out in L-mode plasmas in order to evaluate the effect on the LH current drive efficiency, when using local gas injection to improve the coupling, indicate only a small degradation (ΔI_LH/I_LH ∼ 15%). This effect is largely compensated by the improvement in coupling and thus increase in coupled power when using gas puffing.