Plasma turbulence in the scrape-off layer of tokamak devices

Abstract

Plasma turbulence is explored in the scrape-off layer of tokamak devices using three-dimensional global two-fluid simulations. Two transport regimes are discussed: one in which the turbulent fluctuations saturate nonlinearly due to the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, and another in which the fluctuations saturate due to a local flattening of the plasma gradients and associated removal of the linear instability drive. Focusing on the latter regime, analytical estimates of the cross-field transport and plasma profile gradients are obtained that display Bohm-scaling diffusion properties. © 2013 Euratom.