Experimental studies of plasma transport across a magnetic island in the Compact Auburn Torsatron

Abstract

A set of experiments on the Compact Auburn Torsatron [Gandy et al., Fusion Technol. 18, 281 (1990)] has investigated plasma particle transport properties across a magnetic island. The size of the island was systematically varied and the resulting changes in plasma transport were determined. Measurements of plasma density, electron and ion temperature, and plasma rotation speed were performed. Using a simple diffusion model, these measurements were used to deduce the diffusion coefficients for ions and electrons. With a factor of 2 increase in island width, the ion diffusion coefficient remained nearly constant whereas the electron diffusion coefficient increased by a factor of 4.