Two different experiments involving pressure gradients across the confinement magnetic field in a large plasma column are found to exhibit a broadband turbulence that displays an exponential frequency spectrum for frequencies below the ion cyclotron frequency. The exponential feature has been traced to the presence of solitary pulses having a Lorentzian temporal signature. These pulses arise from nonlinear interactions of drift-Alfvén waves driven by the pressure gradients. In both experiments the width of the pulses is narrowly distributed resulting in exponential spectra with a single characteristic time scale. The temporal width of the pulses is measured to be a fraction of a period of the drift-Alfvén waves. The experiments are performed in the Large Plasma Device ͑LAPD-U͒ ͓W. Gekelman et al., Rev. Sci. Instrum. 62, 2875 ͑1991͔͒ operated by the Basic Plasma Science Facility at the University of California, Los Angeles. One experiment involves a controlled, pure electron temperature gradient associated with a microscopic ͑6 mm gradient length͒ hot electron temperature filament created by the injection a small electron beam embedded in the center of a large, cold magnetized plasma. The other experiment is a macroscopic ͑3.5 cm gradient length͒ limiter-edge experiment in which a density gradient is established by inserting a metallic plate at the edge of the nominal plasma column of the LAPD-U. The temperature filament experiment permits a detailed study of the transition from coherent to turbulent behavior and the concomitant change from classical to anomalous transport. In the limiter experiment the turbulence sampled is always fully developed. The similarity of the results in the two experiments strongly suggests a universal feature of pressure-gradient driven turbulence in magnetized plasmas that results in nondiffusive cross-field transport. This may explain previous observations in helical confinement devices, research tokamaks, and arc plasmas.

Measurements of a magnetized plasma with a controlled electron temperature gradient show the development of a broadband spectrum of density and temperature fluctuations having an exponential frequency dependence at frequencies below the ion cyclotron frequency. The origin of the exponential frequency behavior is traced to temporal pulses of Lorentzian shape. Similar exponential frequency spectra are also found in limiter-edge plasma turbulence associated with blob transport. This finding suggests a universal feature of magnetized plasma turbulence leading to nondiffusive, cross-field transport, namely, the presence of Lorentzian shaped pulses.

Coherent temperature oscillations corresponding to thermal (diffusion) waves are observed to be spontaneously excited in a narrow temperature filament embedded in a large, but colder, magnetized plasma. The parallel and transverse propagation properties of the waves satisfy the predictions of the classical transport theory based on Coulomb collisions. The frequency of the oscillations meets the conditions for a quarter-wave thermal resonator. This is the plasma version of thermal resonators used in the study of other states of matter.

A simplified numerical study is made of the structures that are formed in a magnetized temperature filament due to oscillatory convection from large amplitude drift waves. This study is motivated by a recent experiment ͓D. C. Pace, M. Shi, J. E. Maggs et al., Phys. Plasmas 15, 122304 ͑2008͔͒ in which Lorentzian-shaped temporal pulses are observed. These pulses produce a broadband, exponential frequency power spectrum. The model consists of an electron heat transport equation in which plasma convection arising from pressure-gradient driven drift-waves is included. It is found that above a critical wave amplitude, spatially complex structures are formed, which give rise to temporal pulses having positive and negative polarities at different radial positions. The temporal shape of the pulses can be fit by a Lorentzian function. The associated spatial structures exhibit temporally oscillatory heat plumes ͑positive polarity͒ and cold channels ͑negative polarity͒. The idealized effect of a static flow on these structures is explored. Depending on the flow direction ͑relative to the azimuthal propagation of the drift waves͒, the temporal Lorentzian pulses can be suppressed.

A nonlinear version of a standard system of gyrotron model equations is studied using asymptotic analysis and variational methods. The condition for obtaining a high-amplitude wave is achieved in the study. A simple method for obtaining the patterns and amplitude of the wave based on the given free-space wavenumber pattern is shown.