Abstract The dynamics of the L-H transition is not fully understood, with many parameters changing the threshold power to enter H-mode and the self-regulation between zonal flows and turbulence in the plasma edge. This paper presents power threshold analysis for DIII-
D L-H and H-L transitions, as well as measurements of pedestal temperatures for these transitions. A comparison is made between an L-H transition and H-L transition of comparable Psep exhibiting oscillatory behaviour, showing symmetry between forward and backward transition dynamics. Information geometry analysis has been performed on measurements of plasma density fluctuations, perpendicular plasma velocity fluctuations, and magnetic field fluctuations to investigate the self-regulation of these variables during the transitions. Perpendicular flow evolution is shown to dominate the transition dynamics in both directions, but self-regulation behaviour is observed between all three variables. A strong correlation between magnetic fluctuation information rate and density fluctuation information rate for these two shots indicates the strong influence of magnetic behaviour on both the L-H and H-
L transition, and that these transition dynamics have an electromagnetic contribution. Some parameter dependencies of the magnetic fluctuation activity are presented.
Read full abstract