Interpretation of the electron cyclotron emission signal from optically marginal plasmas

Abstract

The interpretation of electron cyclotron emission (ECE) signal from the optically marginal region of magnetized plasma is presented. The density and the temperature fluctuations associated with the edge localized modes (ELMs) observed in the KSTAR tokamak are estimated by assuming an ELM filamentary structure as a flux tube bulges out like a ballooning mode instability. Synthetic ECE signals from the rotating ELM are calculated based on the measured electron temperature profile and an assumed electron density profile constrained by the measured line-averaged density, yielding an ~ 0.02 relative fluctuation level in agreement with the experimental observations. The measured ECE signal is nearly in phase with the density modulation associated with the rotating ELM. This implies that the ECE signal corresponding to the ELM filaments has a significant contribution from the density fluctuations.