Impact of the electron density and temperature gradient on drift-wave turbulence in the Large Plasma Device

In this paper we present an experimental study of edge turbulence in the Large Plasma Device at UCLA. We utilize a scan of discharge power and prefill pressure (neutral density) to show experimentally that turbulent density fluctuations decrease with decreasing density gradient, as predicted for resistive drift-wave turbulence (RDWT). As expected for RDWT, we observe that the cross-phase between the density and potential fluctuations is close to 0. Moreover, the addition of an electron temperature gradient leads to a reduction in the amplitude of the density fluctuations, as expected for RDWT. However, counter to theoretical expectations, we find that the potential fluctuations do not follow the same trends as the density fluctuations for changes either in density gradients or the addition of a temperature gradient. The disconnect between the density and potential fluctuations is connected to changes in the parallel flows as a result of differences in the prefill pressure, i.e. neutral density. Further analysis of the density and potential fluctuation spectra show that the electron temperature gradient reduces the low frequency fluctuations up to 10kHz role= presentation style= box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: normal; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline; word-spacing: normal; word-wrap: normal; white-space: nowrap; float: none; direction: ltr; max-width: none; max-height: none; min-width: 0px; min-height: 0px; position: relative; \u3e10kHz10kHzand the introduction of a temperature gradient leads to an unexpected ∼π role= presentation style= box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: normal; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline; word-spacing: normal; word-wrap: normal; white-space: nowrap; float: none; direction: ltr; max-width: none; max-height: none; min-width: 0px; min-height: 0px; position: relative; \u3e∼∼πshift of the density–potential cross-phase at ∼10kHz role= presentation style= box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: normal; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline; word-spacing: normal; word-wrap: normal; white-space: nowrap; float: none; direction: ltr; max-width: none; max-height: none; min-width: 0px; min-height: 0px; position: relative; \u3e∼10kHz∼10kHz, while maintaining the typical resistive drift-wave cross-phase at lower frequencies. These experiments partly confirm existing knowledge on resistive drift-wave turbulence, but also introduce new observations that indicate a need for dedicated nonlinear three-dimensional turbulence simulations that include neutrals

Particle transport as a result of resonant magnetic perturbations

This thesis makes contributes to field of plasma physics with a particular focus on particle transport as a result of resonant magnetic perturbations (RPMs) in magnetic confinement devices (Tokamaks). RPMs have proven to be a useful technique to suppress edge localized modes (ELMs) that under certain conditions can damage the confinement device. In order to suppress ELMs, these magnetic perturbations are created to be be resonant at the edge of the plasma (i.e., by selecting an n=3 spectrum and a q₉₅ = 3.6). However, RMPs lead to a changes in the density profile, not only in the pedestal area, but also deeper in the plasma core, limiting plasma performance. As a first contribution in this thesis we carefully investigate density pump-out, and show that it is the result of a change in particle transport (as opposed to a change in neutral fueling). A second contribution of this work is the introduction of a weighted magnetic diffusion coefficient (D/OFL) that allows us to make quantitative comparisons between experimental datasets from different Tokamak devices. By comparing D/OFL for MAST L-modes and DIII-D H-modes, we find that both machines exhibit a very different density pump-out for similar D/OFL values. Since turbulent particle transport is very different for L and H -modes, we investigate, as a third contribution of this work, the influence of RMPs on turbulent particle transport in both MAST and DIII-D. We find that while an increase in turbulent transport on MAST correlates well with density pump-out, no meaningful correlation was found for pedestal density changes in DIII-D. Therefore, as a final contribution in this thesis, we investigate how convective particle transport parallel to the magnetic field alters the density profiles. We compare the increase in convective parallel particle transport and find good agreement with experimental density profile

Wasted talent: the status quo of women in physics in the US and UK

Women+ continue to face obstacles at each step along the way of pursuing a scientific career, and physics has one of the lowest gender diverse participation of all STEM subjects. This is a tremendous waste of potential that can only be reversed with a significant cultural change by all participants