Confinement Transitions
Spontaneous confinement transitions from a low confinement mode (L-mode) to an improved confinement regime (H-mode) lead to a 2-fold increase in the plasma electron density and to other structural changes in the plasma
Such confinement transitions are studied in the H-1 heliac at low temperatures and at low magnetic fields (see Group's Publications
)
After the confinement bifurcation to H-mode a distinct "kink" in the electron density profile marks the location of a transport barrier.
This area of research aims to contribute to the physical understanding of
- mechanisms that lead to plasma bifurcations
- how do plasma parameters re-structure themselves in the new equilibrium
- what defines the location of the density pedestal
