Nonlinear coupling induced toroidal structure of edge localized modes

[摘要] Edge localized modes (ELMs) are magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) instabilities that cause fast periodic relaxations of the strong edge pressure gradient in tokamak fusion plasmas. A novel diagnostic method allows the extraction of toroidal mode numbers, rotation velocities and spatial information during the ELM cycle including the crash. While mode number branches n=3 –6 and n=8 –10 are dominant just before the ELM crash, during the ELM crash n=2 –5 are observed in typical discharges with type-I ELMs in the tokamak experiment. These findings are compared to results from nonlinear MHD simulations. Although n=6is linearly dominant, nonlinear coupling in which n=1is particularly important leads to the dominance of n=3 –5 during the ELM crash, in excellent agreement with experimental observations. The simultaneous occurrence of these modes over a wide radial region leads to high stochasticity and thus increased transport.