Detection of zonal flow spectra in DIII-D by a dual-channel Doppler backscattering system

L. Schmitz, G. Wang, J. C. Hillesheim, T. L. Rhodes, W. A. Peebles, A. E. White, L. Zeng, T. A. Carter, W. Solomon

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

38 Scopus citations

Abstract

Doppler backscattering (DBS) has been successfully used to measure the E×B flow velocity and local intermediate wavenumber density fluctuation levels in the DIII-D tokamak. Depending on the launch angle and the frequency of the probing beam, the signal backscattered from the plasma cut-off layer is sensitive to density fluctuations at a specific perpendicular wavenumber (1≤ k⊥ ρ s ≤4). Due to the localization and high time resolution for poloidal flow measurements, DBS is well suited to detect stationary and time-dependent shear flows [zonal flows (ZFs)]. We present a novel scheme to measure ZF spectra using a dual-channel DBS system capable of simultaneously probing two minor radii separated by a distance of 0.2 cm<Δr<3 cm. Frequency spectra of geodesic acoustic modes and low frequency ZFs (f≤10 kHz) have been obtained for 0.6<ra<0.95.

Original languageEnglish
Article number10F113
JournalReview of Scientific Instruments
Volume79
Issue number10
DOIs
StatePublished - 2008
Externally publishedYes

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