Long-range correlations induced by the self-regulation of zonal flows and drift-wave turbulence

Experimental observation of resonance manifold shrinking under zonal flow shear

In two-dimensional turbulent systems the redistribution of energy can be described by quadratic nonlinear three-wave interactions, which are limited by resonance conditions. The set of coupling modes can be understood as resonant manifold. It has been predicted by theory that, in the presence of a shear flow, the resonant manifold in wave-number space shrinks in time favoring large-scale structures. The phenomenon of manifold shrinking in the presence of shear flows is studied the first time experimentally in drift wave turbulence at the stellarator TJ-K by bicoherence analysis. By estimating effective mode numbers characterizing the width of the manifold, it is demonstrated that increasing shear leads to a shrinking of the resonance manifold.

Fast Low-to-High Confinement Mode Bifurcation Dynamics in a Tokamak Edge Plasma Gyrokinetic Simulation

Transport barrier formation and its relation to sheared flows in fluids and plasmas are of fundamental interest in various natural and laboratory observations and of critical importance in achieving an economical energy production in a magnetic fusion device. Here we report the first observation of an edge transport barrier formation event in an electrostatic gyrokinetic simulation carried out in a realistic diverted tokamak edge geometry under strong forcing by a high rate of heat deposition. The results show that turbulent Reynolds-stress-driven sheared E×B flows act in concert with neoclassical orbit loss to quench turbulent transport and form a transport barrier just inside the last closed magnetic flux surface.

Observation of the L-H confinement bifurcation triggered by a turbulence-driven shear flow in a tokamak plasma

Comprehensive 2D turbulence and eddy flow velocity measurements on DIII-D demonstrate a rapidly increasing turbulence-driven shear flow that develops ∼100  μs prior to the low-confinement (L mode) to high-confinement (H mode) transition and appears to trigger it. These changes are localized to a narrow layer 1-2 cm inside the magnetic boundary. Increasing heating power increases the Reynolds stress, the energy transfer from turbulence to the poloidal flow, and the edge flow shearing rate that then exceeds the decorrelation rate, suppressing turbulence and triggering the transition.

Experimental evidence of turbulent transport regulation by zonal flows

The regulation of turbulent transport by zonal flows is studied experimentally on a flux surface of the stellarator experiment TJ-K. Data of 128 Langmuir probes at different toroidal and poloidal positions on a single flux surface enable us to measure simultaneously the zonal flow activity and the turbulent transport in great detail. A reduction of turbulent transport by 30% during the zonal flow phase is found. It is shown that the reduction process is initiated by a modification in the cross phase between density and electric field followed by a reduction in the fluctuation levels, which sustain low transport levels on larger time scales than the zonal flow lifetime.