Hideki Zushi

Edge turbulence has been imaged on QUEST at high temporal resolution (50 kHz) using a fast framing visible camera. Statistical features of fluctuations including blobs are investigated in both open and closed magnetic configurations. Higher order moments of fluctuations including blobs and their mutual relationships are investigated. Close resemblance of the density pdf with Gaussian or beta distributions has earlier been predicted. Hence, an attempt has been made to characterize the density pdf with respect to the Pearson system to ascertain the implications of the stochastic forces.

Two-dimensional structure of density fluctuations is examined during the current jump phase, indicating a change from the open magnetic fields to the closed ones. During the smooth current ramp-up phase the two-dimensional contour of the LiI intensity shows vertically alignment, consistent with the magnetic surfaces. At the inflection point in I_p ramp-up the LiI intensity contour becomes flat in the observation regime and then suddenly a steep gradient and higher intensity regime are formed in the vertical direction. This higher intensity corresponds to a burst of LiI waveform. According to these changes in the contour, it is found that, within ±1 ms around the burst of LiI, a low frequency coherent wave with a long wavelength rapidly grows. The relations with other signals (magnetic flux and microwave stray power) are discussed with respect to the topological change in the magnetic configuration and mode conversion of the incident electromagnetic waves.