The Associated Laboratory in the Field of Fusion between CAS/ASIPP and CEA/IRFM (Cadarache, France) was created in July 2013, with Prof Yuntao SONG and Dr Xavier LITAUDON as heads of the Associated Laboratory. In September 2013, the first meeting was held at ASIPP gathering experts from IRFM and ASIPP to define the scope for the Specific Topics of Cooperation. The Associated Laboratory had three main Specific Topics of Cooperation at its start:  

　　-          Long duration plasma operation in EAST and WEST 

　　-          ICRH ELMs Resilient Antenna for WEST 

　　-          Articulated Inspection Arm for EAST and WEST 

　　The participations from IRFM at this meeting were: Yves PEYSSON, Patrick MOLLARD, Xiao-Lan ZOU, Annika EKEDAHL, Jean-Michel BERNARD, Eric VILLEDIEU, Tuong HOANG and Xavier LITAUDON. 

　　The Topic on “Long duration plasma operation in EAST and WEST”, led by Xianzu GONG and Annika EKEDAHL, has largely focused on long pulse heating and current drive with radiofrequency (RF) systems. Up to now, the activity has mainly taken place in EAST, with several scientists from IRFM visiting ASIPP to perform and participate in EAST experiments during the last 5 years. The first visitors from ASIPP to join WEST for RF experiments arrived in 2018.  

　　The photo below was taken at the 21st RF topical Conference, held in Lake Arrowhead (California) in April 2015, where the RF Teams from ASIPP and IRFM took time to meet up for discussions together. From left to right on the photo are: Xiaojie WANG (ASIPP), Chengmin QIN (ASIPP), Laurent VALADE (IRFM), Annika EKEDAHL (IRFM), Lingfeng LU (IRFM), Xianzu GONG (ASIPP), Yves PEYSSON (IRFM), Laurent COLAS (IRFM), Jean-Michel BERNARD (IRFM), Walid HELOU (IRFM), Bojiang DING (ASIPP), Xinjun ZHANG (ASIPP). 

Contributor information:

Annika EKEDAHL, CEA