On generation of Alfvénic-like fluctuations by drift wave–zonal flow system in large plasma device experiments

According to recent experiments, magnetically confined fusion plasmas with “drift wave–zonal flow turbulence” (DW-ZF) give rise to broadband electromagnetic waves. Sharapov et al. [Europhysics Conference Abstracts, 35th EPS Conference on Plasma Physics, Hersonissos, 2008, edited by P. Lalousis and S. Moustaizis (European Physical Society, Switzerland, 2008), Vol. 32D, p. 4–071 ] reported an abrupt change in the magnetic turbulence during L - H transitions in Joint European Torus [P. H. Rebut and B. E. Keen, Fusion Technol. 11, 13 (1987)] plasmas. A broad spectrum of Alfvénic-like (electromagnetic) fluctuations appears from E × B flow driven turbulence in experiments on the large plasma device (LAPD) [W. Gekelman et al. , Rev. Sci. Instrum. 62, 2875 (1991)] facility at UCLA. Evidence of the existence of magnetic fluctuations in the shear flow region in the experiments is shown. We present one possible theoretical explanation of the generation of electromagnetic fluctuations in DW-ZF systems for an example of LAPD experiments. The method used is based on generalizing results on shear flow phenomena from the hydrodynamics community. In the 1990s, it was realized that fluctuation modes of spectrally stable nonuniform (sheared) flows are non-normal. That is, the linear operators of the flows modal analysis are non-normal and the corresponding eigenmodes are not orthogonal. The non-normality results in linear transient growth with bursts of the perturbations and the mode coupling, which causes the generation of electromagnetic waves from the drift wave–shear flow system. We consider shear flow that mimics tokamak zonal flow. We show that the transient growth substantially exceeds the growth of the classical dissipative trapped-particle instability of the system.