Observation of a critical pressure gradient for the stabilization of interchange modes in simple magnetized toroidal plasmas

Journal Article · Tue Sep 15 00:00:00 EDT 2009 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3204704· OSTI ID:21282103

Federspiel, L; Labit, B; Ricci, P; Fasoli, A; Furno, I; Theiler, C ^[1]

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1. Centre de Recherches en Physique des Plasmas (CRPP), Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), Association EURATOM-Confederation Suisse, CH-1015 Lausanne (Switzerland)

The existence of a critical pressure gradient needed to drive the interchange instability is experimentally demonstrated in the simple magnetized torus TORoidal Plasma EXperiment [A. Fasoli et al., Phys. Plasmas 13, 055902 (2006)]. This gradient is reached during a scan in the neutral gas pressure p{sub n}. Around a critical value for p{sub n}, depending on the magnetic configuration and on the injected rf power, a small increase in the neutral gas pressure triggers a transition in the plasma behavior. The pressure profile is locally flattened, stabilizing the interchange mode observed at lower neutral gas densities. The measured value for the critical gradient is close to the linear theory estimate.

• OSTI ID: 21282103
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 16, Issue 9; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.3204704; (c) 2009 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
CRITICAL PRESSURE
FLUTE INSTABILITY
GASES
PLASMA
PRESSURE GRADIENTS