Effects of sawtooth heat pulses on edge flows and turbulence in a tokamak plasma

Enhancements of edge zonal flows,radial electric fields,and turbulence are observed in electron cyclotron resonance heating-heated plasmas(Zhao et al 2013 Nucl.Fusion 53083011).In this paper,the effects of sawtooth heat pulses on flows and turbulence are presented.These experiments are performed using multiple Langmuir probe arrays in the edge plasmas of the HL-2A tokamak.The edge zonal flows,radial electric fields,and turbulence are all enhanced by sawteeth.Propagation of the zonal flow and turbulence intensities is also observed.The delay time of the maximal intensity of the electric fields,zonal flows,and turbulence with respect to the sawtooth crashes is estimated as~1 ms and comparable to that of the sawtooth-triggered intermediate phases.Not only the zonal flows but also the radial electric fields lag behind the turbulence.Furthermore,the intensities of both the zonal flows and electric fields nearly linearly increase/decrease with the increase/decrease of the turbulence intensity.A double-source predator-prey model analysis suggests that a relatively strong turbulence source may contribute to the dominant zonal flow formation during sawtooth cycles.

Toroidal component of velocity for geodesic acoustic modes in the edge plasmas of the J-TEXT tokamak

The toroidal component of the velocity for geodesic acoustic modes(GAMs)is first demonstrated.Multiple Langmuir probe arrays set up near the top tokamak of the J-TEXT were utilized for this study.A significant peak at the GAM frequency is observed in Mach number fluctuations.The toroidal velocity for the GAMs is estimated as 10–100 ms-1 and increases with the poloidal velocity.The ratio of toroidal component to the poloidal one of the velocity is mainly located in the interval between 0.3 and 1.0.With higher safety factors q,the ratio almost does not change with decreasing the safety factor,whereas it goes up sharply at low q.The coherencies between poloidal electric fields and Mach number fluctuations in turbulence frequency bands are also evaluated,and are higher than those between radial electric fields and Mach number fluctuations.

Response of plasma turbulence against externally-controlled perturbations

A theory of the dynamic response of the turbulent plasma against the externally-controlled perturbations is reported. Based on Mori＇s method [Prog. Theor. Phys. 33 423 （1965）], the nonlinear force is assmned to be separated into the memory function and the nonlinear fluctuating force. The former corresponds to the damping term, and the latter is categorized into the noise term. The response of the turbulent plasma against the externally-controlled source is formulated. The response kernel, which connects the externally-controlled source and the response of the turbulent field, is shown to have both the nonlocal property （in space） and the non-Markovian response （in time）. A discussion is made on the nonlocal and non-Markovian response, including the case of disparate-scale interactions. A new method is proposed to observe experimentally the nonlocal interaction in the drift wave turbulence via the zonal flows.