Long Range Temperature Fluctuation in LHD

Abstract

We report a detailed correlation technique to identify the long-range temperature fluctuation in the Large Helical Device. Correlation hunting has successfully realized the observation of electron temperature fluctuations, which are characterized by their correlation length comparable to the plasma minor radius, with low frequency of ∼ 1-3 kHz, ballistic radial propagation (at a speed of ∼1 km/s, of the order of diamagnetic drift velocity), spatial mode number of m/n = 1/1 (or 2/1), and amplitude of ∼2% at the maximum. Bicoherence analysis confirmed their nonlinear coupling with local microscopic turbulent fluctuations. This long-range temperature fluctuation is a possible carrier of fast propagation in transport processes observed so far. We also comment on the theoretical interpretation.