The EXB staircase of magnetised plasmas

Abstract

We show that a class of near-marginal and low-collisional magnetised plasmas naturally evolve into a globally organised state dubbed the ‘ ##IMG## [http://ej.iop.org/images/0029-5515/57/6/066026/nfaa6873ieqn003.gif] $퐄times 퐁$ staircase’. A key signature of this self-organised state is the containment of avalanche activity, detrimental for confinement, by a series of microbarriers for transport, the staircase steps, beneficial for confinement. Conditions for existence of the ##IMG## [http://ej.iop.org/images/0029-5515/57/6/066026/nfaa6873ieqn004.gif] $퐄times 퐁$ staircase, impact on transport and confinement and robustness in parameter space are discussed.

Publication
Nuclear Fusion