Operation above the Greenwald density limit in high performance DIII-D negative triangularity discharges
The density limit in strongly-shaped negative triangularity (NT) discharges is studied experimentally in the DIII-D tokamak. Record-high Greenwald fractions $f_G$ are obtained, using gas puff injection only, with values up to near 2, where $f_G$ is defined as the ratio of the line-averaged density over $n_G=I_p/(π\,a^2)$, with $I_p$[MA] the plasma current and $a$[m] the plasma minor radius. A clear higher operational limit with higher auxiliary power is also demonstrated, with the ohmic density limit about two times lower than with additional neutral beam injection heating. The evolution of the electron density, temperature and pressure profiles are analyzed as well. The core density can be up to twice the Greenwald density and keeps increasing, while the value at the separatrix remains essentially constant and slightly below $n_G$. The edge temperature gradient collapses to near zero and NT plasmas are shown to be resilient to such profiles in terms of disruptivity. We also present the time evolution of the inverse electron pressure scale length with the value at the last closed flux surface (LCFS) decreasing below the value at the normalized radius 0.9 near the density limit, demonstrating the clear drop of confinement starting from the edge. This inverse scale length ``collapse'' at the LCFS also defines well the characteristic behavior of the kinetic profiles approaching a density limit.