M. A. Pedrosa

Fluctuation‐induced flux at the plasma edge in toroidal devices

Fluctuation‐induced fluxes have a bursty character. As a consequence, a significant part of the total particle flux is carried out by sporadic, large transport bursts. The local flux distribution function is consistent with a near‐Gaussian character of the fluctuations. The radial dependence of the statistical properties of plasma fluctuations and induced fluxes have been investigated in the plasma boundary region of the TJ‐I tokamak [I. Garcia‐Cortes et al., Phys. Fluids B 4, 4007 (1992)] and the TJ‐IU torsatron [E. Ascasibar et al., in Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion Research, Proceedings of the 15th Conference on Plasma Physics and Controlled Nuclear Fusion Research, Seville (International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, in press)]. There is a striking similarity between the statistical properties of turbulent transport in both devices.

Statistical characterization of fluctuation wave forms in the boundary region of fusion and nonfusion plasmas

The statistical properties of plasma fluctuations have been investigated in the plasma boundary region of fusion (tokamaks and stellarators) and nonfusion plasmas. Fluctuations in ion saturation current and floating potential have a near-Gaussian character in the proximity of the velocity shear layer (rsh). However, fluctuations deviate from a Gaussian distribution when moving inside of the plasma edge (r rsh). Furthermore, fluctuations show sporadic pulses that are asymmetric in time. The present analysis shows a coupling of those pulses and the averaged flow in the shear layer region.

Sheared flows and transition to improved confinement regime in the TJ-II stellarator

Sheared flows have been experimentally studied in TJ-II plasmas. In lowdensity ECH plasmas, sheared flows can be easily controlled by changing the plasma density, thereby allowing the radial origin and evolution of the edge velocity shear layer to be studied. In high density NBI heated plasmas a negative radial electric field is observed that is dominated by the diamagnetic component. The shear of the negative radial electric field increases at the L‐H transition by an amount that depends on the magnetic configuration and heating power. Magnetic configurations with and without a low order rational surface close to the plasma edge show differences that may be interpreted in terms of local changes in the radial electric field induced by the rational surface that could facilitate the L‐H transition. Fluctuation measurements show a reduction in the turbulence level that is strongest at the position of maximum Er shear. High temporal and spatial resolution measurements indicate that turbulence reduction precedes the increase in the mean sheared flow, but is simultaneous with the increase in the low frequency oscillating sheared flow. These observations may be interpreted in terms of turbulence suppression by oscillating flows, the so-called zonal flows. (Some figures in this article are in colour only in the electronic version)

Intermittency of plasma edge fluctuation data: Multifractal analysis

Plasma edge fluctuations show a degree of intermittency similar to fluid turbulence. Using fluctuation measurements obtained with Langmuir probe data from two confinement devices, it is shown that plasma fluctuations have a multifractal character over the fluctuation range of scales with intermittency levels comparable to the levels measured in neutral fluid turbulence. In the mesoscale range, that is, for time scales between 10 times the turbulence decorrelation time and plasma confinement time, plasma fluctuations have a structure closer to a monofractal with very low intermittency.

Threshold for sheared flow and turbulence development in the TJ-II stellarator*

The influence of plasma density and edge gradients on the development of perpendicular sheared flow has been investigated in the plasma edge region of the TJ-II stellarator. The development of the naturally occurring velocity shear layer requires a minimum plasma density. Experimental findings have shown that there is a coupling between the onset of sheared flow development and an increase in the level of plasma edge turbulence; once sheared flow is fully developed the level of fluctuations and turbulent transport slightly decreases whereas edge gradients and plasma density increases. Electron density profiles show a broadening evolution as density increases above the critical value where sheared flow is developed, while the temperature profile remains similar, reflecting the strong impact of plasma density in the global confinement scaling. Furthermore, the shearing rate of the spontaneous sheared flow turns out to be close to the one needed to trigger a transition to improved confinement regimes. Density ramp experiments show, within the experimental uncertainty, no evidence of hysteresis during the spontaneous shear development. Power modulation, in the proximity of the critical plasma density, allows the characterization of plasma potential and electric field relaxation during the transition. The present results have a direct impact on the understanding of the physics mechanisms underlying the generation of critical sheared flow, pointing to the important role of turbulent driven flow.

Additional evidence for the universality of the probability distribution of turbulent fluctuations and fluxes in the scrape-off layer region of fusion plasmas

Plasma density fluctuations and electrostatic turbulent fluxes measured at the scrape-off layer of the Alcator C-Mod tokamak [B. LaBombard, R. L. Boivin, M. Greenwald, J. Hughes, B. Lipschultz, D. Mossessian, C. S. Pitcher, J. L. Terry, and S. J. Zweben, Phys. Plasmas 8, 2107 (2001)], the Wendelstein 7-Advanced Stellarator [H. Renner, E. Anabitarte, E. Ascasibar et al., Plasma Phys. Controlled Fusion 31, 1579 (1989)], and the TJ-II stellarator [C. Alejaldre, J. Alonso, J. Botija et al., Fusion Technol. 17, 131 (1990)] are shown to obey a non-Gaussian but apparently universal (i.e., not dependent on device and discharge parameters) probability density distribution (pdf). The fact that a specific shape acts as an attractor for the pdf seems to suggest that emergent behavior and self-regulation are relevant concepts for these fluctuations. This shape is closely similar to the so-called Bramwell, Holdsworth, and Pinton distribution, which does not have any free parameters.

Edge Localized Modes and fluctuations in the JET SOL region

The statistical properties of the radial propagation of edge localized modes (ELMs) have been investigated in the Scrape-off layer (SOL) region of the JET tokamak. ELM events propagate radially with effective radial velocities in the range of 1000 m s−1. Experimental results show a link between the radial velocity and the size of transport events. This suggests the importance of the competition between both parallel and radial transport to explain particle losses onto the divertor plates. Parallel flows show a transient increase during the appearance of ELMs, providing evidence of a coupling between parallel dynamics and radial transport.

Multi-scale physics mechanisms and spontaneous edge transport bifurcations in fusion plasmas

The magnitude of radial transport in magnetic confinement devices for controlled nuclear fusion suffers spontaneous bifurcations when specific system parameter values are exceeded. Here we show, for the first time, that the correlation length of the plasma potential becomes of the order of the machine size during the edge bifurcation itself, quite unlike the density fluctuations. The mechanism governing the development of this bifurcation, leading to the establishment of an edge transport barrier, is still one of the main scientific conundrums facing the magnetic fusion community after more than twenty years of intense research. The results presented here show the dominant role of long-range correlations when approaching the Low to High confinement edge transition in fusion plasmas. This is in line with the expectation that multi-scale interactions are a crucial ingredient of complex dynamics in many non-equilibrium systems.

Empirical similarity in the probability density function of turbulent transport in the edge plasma region in fusion plasmas

The probability density function (PDF) of turbulent transport has been investigated in the plasma edge region of tokamak (JET) and stellarator (TJ-II) fusion devices. PDFs can be re-scaled using a functional form, PDF(ΓE×B) = L−1g(ΓE×B/L), where L is directly related with the level of fluctuations in the turbulent flux. This kind of re-scaling holds at different timescales in which the functional form of the PDF changes. The empirical similarity in the PDF of turbulent transport in the edge region in both the JET tokamak and the TJ-II stellarator supports the view that turbulent transport displays universality in fusion plasmas. These results emphasize the importance of the statistical description of transport processes in fusion plasmas as an alternative approach to the traditional way to characterize transport based on the computation of effective transport coefficients (i.e. diffusion coefficients) and on average quantities (i.e. average correlation lengths).

Impact of different confinement regimes on the two-dimensional structure of edge turbulence

This paper reports the impact of different confinement regimes on the 2D structure of edge turbulence. An image analysis method based on two-dimensional continuous wavelet transformation is used to localize structures (blobs) in the images and to extract their geometrical characteristics (position, scale, orientation angle and aspect ratio). We study the impact of edge shear-layers on these geometrical aspects of blobs. Results show a reduction in the angular dispersion of blobs as the shear layer is established in the boundary, as well as an increase in the elongation of these structures. Similar behaviour is found in NSTX image sequences when going from L to H mode plasmas. During improved confinement regimes the number of detected blobs decreases. Some indications are found suggesting that the turbulence reduction could be scale-selective in the biasing-induced improved confinement regime of TJ-II stellarator. Perpendicular flow reversal is visualized with the cameras and the time scales for flow reversal are found to be less than 50 µs. Radially propagating structures are found in the SOL with velocities in the range ~1000 m/s and with a poloidally asymmetric spatial distribution.