Characterization of Low frequency zonal flow in linear magnetized plasma

POSTER

Abstract

A low frequency, poloidally symmetrical potential structure that peaks near zero frequency is observed in a steady linear magnetized plasma device. The complete 3D spectral features of this structure have been identified to have the characteristics expected for the low frequency zonal flow (LFZF). The analysis of the nonlinear interaction between the LFZF and ambient drift turbulence suggests that the LFZF may be generated in energy-conserving nonlinear interactions with the turbulence. The LFZF frequency bandwidth is found to scale inversely with the square root of the ion mass, which implies that the collisional damping mechanism dominates the saturation of the LFZF in our case.

*Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 10605025).

Authors

  • Jinlin Xie

    • CAS Key Laboratory of Basic Plasma Physics, Department of Modern Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China 230026

  • Ran Chen

    • CAS Key Laboratory of Basic Plasma Physics, Department of Modern Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China 230026

  • Tao Lan

    • CAS Key Laboratory of Basic Plasma Physics, Department of Modern Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China 230026

  • Adi Liu

    • CAS Key Laboratory of Basic Plasma Physics, Department of Modern Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China 230026

  • Wandong Liu

    • CAS Key Laboratory of Basic Plasma Physics, Department of Modern Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China 230026

  • Changxuan Yu

    • CAS Key Laboratory of Basic Plasma Physics, Department of Modern Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China 230026