Density gradient stabilization of electron temperature gradient driven turbulence in a spherical tokamak

Phys Rev Lett. 2011 Apr 22;106(16):165005. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.106.165005. Epub 2011 Apr 22.

Abstract

In this Letter we report the first clear experimental observation of density gradient stabilization of electron temperature gradient driven turbulence in a fusion plasma. It is observed that longer wavelength modes, k(⊥)ρ(s) ≲ 10, are most stabilized by density gradient, and the stabilization is accompanied by about a factor of 2 decrease in the plasma effective thermal diffusivity.