Geodesic acoustic modes (GAMs) were investigated on the T-10 tokamak using heavy ion beam probe, correlation reflectometry and multipin Langmuir probe diagnostics. Regimes with Ohmic heating and with on-and off-axis ECRH were studied. It was shown that GAMs are mainly the potential oscillations. Typically, the power spectrum of the oscillations has the form of a solitary quasimonochromatic peak with the contrast range 3-5. They are the manifestation of the torsional plasma oscillations with poloidal wavenumber m = 0, called zonal flows. The frequency of GAMs changes in the region of observation and decreases towards the plasma edge. After ECRH switch-on, the frequency increases, correlating with growth in the electron temperature T e . The frequency of the GAMs depends on the local T e as f GAM ∼ c s /R ∼ T 1/2 e , which is consistent with a theoretical scaling for GAM, where c s is the sound speed within a factor of unity. The GAMs on T-10 are found to have density limit, some magnetic components and an intermittent character. They tend to be more excited near low-q magnetic surfaces.

Sheared flows have been experimentally studied in TJ-II plasmas. In lowdensity ECH plasmas, sheared flows can be easily controlled by changing the plasma density, thereby allowing the radial origin and evolution of the edge velocity shear layer to be studied. In high density NBI heated plasmas a negative radial electric field is observed that is dominated by the diamagnetic component. The shear of the negative radial electric field increases at the L-H transition by an amount that depends on the magnetic configuration and heating power. Magnetic configurations with and without a low order rational surface close to the plasma edge show differences that may be interpreted in terms of local changes in the radial electric field induced by the rational surface that could facilitate the L-H transition. Fluctuation measurements show a reduction in the turbulence level that is strongest at the position of maximum E r shear. High temporal and spatial resolution measurements indicate that turbulence reduction precedes the increase in the mean sheared flow, but is simultaneous with the increase in the low frequency oscillating sheared flow. These observations may be interpreted in terms of turbulence suppression by oscillating flows, the so-called zonal flows.

Energetic ion driven Alfvén eigenmodes (AEs) are believed to be an important element disturbing the transport in a future fusion reactor. The studies of the AE properties in modern toroidal devices have made crucial contributions to the reactor relevant physics. AEs are conventionally studied by magnetic probes (MPs), which provide the poloidal m and toroidal n mode numbers and their spectral characteristics. Heavy ion beam probing (HIBP) has become a new tool to study AEs with high spatial and frequency resolution. HIBP in the TJ-II heliac observes locally (∼1 cm) resolved AEs over the whole radial interval. The set of low-m (m < 8) modes, detected with the high-frequency resolution (<5 kHz), present different types of AEs. AEs are pronounced in the local density, electric potential and poloidal magnetic field oscillations, detected simultaneously by HIBP in the frequency range 50 kHz < f AE < 300 kHz. Various AE modes are visible in the neutral beam injector (NBI)-heated plasma for co-NBI (<450 kW), counter- (<450 kW) and balanced NBI (<900 kW) from the plasma centre to the edge. A high coherence between MP and HIBP data was found for specific AEs. When the density rises, AE frequency decreases, , and the cross-phase between the plasma density, poloidal magnetic field and potential remains constant. The amplitude of the AE potential oscillations δφAE ∼ 10 V was estimated. Poloidally resolved density and potential measurements may provide information about the AE poloidal wavelength and the AE contribution to the poloidal electric field E pol and the turbulent particle flux 𝚪 E × B . The typical range of E pol oscillations for AEs is . Depending on the δn e and δE pol amplitudes and cross-phase, AEs may make a small or a significant contribution to the turbulent particle flux 𝚪 E × B for the observed wavenumbers k θ < 3 cm−1.

Zonal flows and their high-frequency counterpart, the geodesic acoustic modes (GAMs) are considered as a possible mechanism of the plasma turbulence self-regulation. In the T-10 tokamak GAMs have been studied by the heavy ion beam probing and multipin Langmuir probes. The wide range of the regimes with Ohmic, on-axis and off-axis electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) were studied (B t = 1.5-2.4 T, I p = 140-300 kA, ne = (0.6-6.0) × 10 19 m −3 , P EC < 1.2 MW). It was shown that GAM has radially homogeneous structure and poloidal m = 0 for potential perturbations. The local theory predicts that f GAM ∼ √ T /m i /R, that means the frequency increases with the decrease of the minor radius. In contrast, the radial distribution of experimental frequency of the plasma potential and density oscillations, associated to GAM, is almost uniform over the whole plasma radius, suggesting the features of the nonlocal (global) eigenmodes. The GAM amplitude in the plasma potential also tends to be uniform along the radius. GAMs are more pronounced during ECRH, when the typical frequencies are seen in the narrow band from 22 to 27 kHz for the main peak and 25-30 kHz for the higher frequency satellite. GAM characteristics and the range of GAM existence are presented as functions of T e , density, magnetic field and P EC .

Alfvén eigenmodes (AEs) were studied in neutral beam injection (NBI) heated plasmas in the TJ-II stellarator using a heavy ion beam probe (HIBP) in the core, and by Langmuir (LP) and Mirnov probes (MP) at the edge. AEs were detected over the whole plasma radius by the HIBP with a spatial resolution of about 1 cm. AE-induced oscillations were detected in the plasma density n e, electric potential φ and poloidal magnetic field B pol with frequencies 50 kHz < f AE < 300 kHz. The LP, MP and HIBP data showed a high level of coherency for specific branches of AEs. Poloidal mode wave-vectors k θ , mode numbers m(m < 8) and propagation velocities V θ  ∼ 30 km s−1 were detected for various branches of AEs, having different radial locations. When the density rose due to NBI fuelling, the AE frequency decreased as predicted by the Alfvén law . During the AE frequency decay the following new AE features were observed: (i) the poloidal wave-vector k θ and mode number m remained constant, (ii) the cross-phases between the oscillations in B pol, n e and electric potential remained constant, having an individual value for each AE branch, (iii) V θ decreased proportional to the AE frequency. The interaction of the AEs with the bulk (thermal) plasma resulted in clearly pronounced quasi-coherent peaks in the electrostatic turbulent particle flux spectra. Various AE branches exhibited different contributions to the particle flux: outward, inward and also zero, depending on the phase relations between the oscillations in E pol and n e, which are specific for each branch. A comparison with MHD mode modelling indicated that some of the more prominent frequency branches can be identified as radially extended helical AEs.