The characteristics of geodesic-acoustic-mode (GAM) are investigated through direct and simultaneous measurement of electrostatic and density fluctuations with a heavy ion beam probe.The amplitude of the GAM changes in relation to the radial position; it is small near the separatrix, reaches a local maximum at 3 cm inside the separatrix and then decreases again to 5 cm inside the separatrix. The frequency is constant in the range, though the predicted GAM frequency varies according to the temperature gradient. The correlation length is about 6 cm and comparable to the structure of the amplitude of the GAM. The results indicate the GAM has a radial structure which reflects the local condition at about 3 m inside the separatrix.The phase relation between the GAM oscillation indicates that the GAM is a radial propagating wave.The interaction between the GAM and the ambient density fluctuation is shown by the high coherence between the GAM oscillation and the temporal behaviour of the ambient density fluctuation. Moreover, the phase relation between the electric field fluctuation of the GAM ( Ẽr,GAM ) and the amplitude of the density fluctuation indicates that the modulation of the ambient density fluctuation delays the Ẽr,GAM . The causality between the GAM and the modulation of the density fluctuation is revealed.

In this Letter, we report analyses of spatiotemporal dynamics of turbulence and structure in the limit-cycle oscillation (LCO) that precedes an L-to-H transition. Zonal flows are not observed during LCO, and the oscillation is the periodic generations or decays of barrier with edge-localized mean flow. Oscillatory Reynolds stress is found to be too small to accelerate the LCO flow, by considering the dielectric constant in magnetized toroidal plasmas. Propagation of changes of the density gradient and turbulence amplitude into the core is also observed.

We report observations of the dynamic response of micro-fluctuations and turbulent flux to a low-frequency heating power modulation in the Large Helical Device. The responses of heat flux and micro-fluctuation intensity differ from that of the change in temperature gradient. This result violates the local transport model, where turbulence is determined by the local temperature gradient. A new relationship between flux, gradient and turbulence is found. In addition to the temperature gradient, the heating rate is proposed as a new, direct controlling parameter of turbulence to explain the fast response of turbulence against periodic modulation of heating power.

Large potential oscillations were detected in JIPPT-IIU tokamak plasmas in a wide range of plasma cross-sections in measurements using a multi-sample-volume heavy ion beam probe. These oscillations have large amplitudes reaching a few hundreds of volts and their frequencies are in the range of the geodesic acoustic mode (GAM). They are found over a wide range of plasma cross-sections and commonly have m = 0 structures. As they were Fourier analysed, it was found that the central frequency is higher in the core of the plasma and lower in the edge of the plasma. These observations agree with the properties of theoretically predicted GAM oscillations. It was also found that the frequency spectrum is peaked in the core and broad in the edge, which may have something to do with damping mechanisms of the GAM. The phase relation between the density and the electric field fluctuations was studied extensively in terms of the cross-correlation function. The level of the density fluctuation was low as it should be, and the expected 90° phase difference was found in a limited radial domain.

The electrostatic and density fluctuation are measured simultaneously with a heavy ion beam probe. The electrostatic fluctuation with the geodesic acoustic mode (GAM) frequency is observed in L-mode plasmas and not in H-mode plasmas. The poloidal and radial structure is consistent with the GAM. So the fluctuation is concluded to be the GAM.The amplitude of the GAM changes in the radial direction; it is small near the separatrix, has a maximum at 3 cm inside the separatrix and decreases again to 5 cm inside the separatrix.The GAM and the temporal behaviour of the ambient density fluctuation show a significant coherence, and the phase of modulation of the ambient density fluctuation tends to delay the potential oscillation of the GAM. It is clearly verified that the GAM affects ambient fluctuation and also the local particle transport through modulation of the amplitude of the ambient fluctuation.

Extremely hollow profiles of impurities ͑denoted as "impurity hole"͒ are observed in the plasma with a steep gradient of the ion temperature after the formation of an internal transport barrier ͑ITB͒ in the ion temperature transport in the Large Helical Device ͓A. Iiyoshi et al., Nucl. Fusion 39, 1245 ͑1999͔͒. The radial profile of carbon becomes hollow during the ITB phase and the central carbon density keeps dropping and reaches 0.1%-0.3% of plasma density at the end of the ion ITB phase. The diffusion coefficient and the convective velocity of impurities are evaluated from the time evolution of carbon profiles assuming the diffusion and the convection velocity are constant in time after the formation of the ITB. The transport analysis gives a low diffusion of 0.1-0.2 m 2 / s and the outward convection velocity of ϳ1 m/ s at half of the minor radius, which is in contrast to the tendency in tokamak plasmas for the impurity density to increase due to an inward convection and low diffusion in the ITB region. The outward convection is considered to be driven by turbulence because the sign of the convection velocity contradicts the neoclassical theory where a negative electric field and an inward convection are predicted.

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This Letter presents the discovery of macroscale electron temperature fluctuations with a long radial correlation length comparable to the plasma minor radius in a toroidal plasma. Their spatiotemporal structure is characterized by a low frequency of ∼1-3  kHz, ballistic radial propagation, a poloidal or toroidal mode number of m/n=1/1 (or 2/1), and an amplitude of ∼2% at maximum. Nonlinear coupling between the long-range fluctuations and the microscopic fluctuations is identified. A change of the amplitude of the long-range fluctuation is transmitted across the plasma radius at the velocity which is of the order of the drift velocity.