Turbulent Fluctuations in TFTR Configurations with Reversed Magnetic Shear

TLDR

Turbulent fluctuations in plasmas with reversed magnetic shear have been studied on the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor. Under intense auxiliary heating, reversed‑shear plasmas on TFTR bifurcate into a high‑confinement state with very low fluctuations and a low‑confinement state with large bursty turbulence, consistent with E×B shear suppression.

Abstract

Turbulent fluctuations in plasmas with reversed magnetic shear have been investigated on the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor. Under intense auxiliary heating, these plasmas are observed to bifurcate into two states with different transport properties. In the state with better confinement, it has been found that the level of fluctuations is very small throughout most of the region with negative shear. By contrast, the state with lower confinement is characterized by large bursts of fluctuations which suggest a competition between the driving and the suppression of turbulence. These results are consistent with the suppression of turbulence by the $\mathbf{E}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}\mathbf{B}$ velocity shear.