Observation of long-distance radial correlation in toroidal plasma turbulence

Phys Rev Lett. 2011 Sep 9;107(11):115001. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.115001. Epub 2011 Sep 7.

Abstract

This Letter presents the discovery of macroscale electron temperature fluctuations with a long radial correlation length comparable to the plasma minor radius in a toroidal plasma. Their spatiotemporal structure is characterized by a low frequency of ∼1-3 kHz, ballistic radial propagation, a poloidal or toroidal mode number of m/n=1/1 (or 2/1), and an amplitude of ∼2% at maximum. Nonlinear coupling between the long-range fluctuations and the microscopic fluctuations is identified. A change of the amplitude of the long-range fluctuation is transmitted across the plasma radius at the velocity which is of the order of the drift velocity.