Experimental identification of electric field excitation mechanisms in a structural transition of tokamak plasmas

Kobayashi, Tatsuya*; Ito, Kimitaka*; Ido, Takeshi*; Kamiya, Kensaku; Ito, Sanae*; Miura, Yukitoshi; Nagashima, Yoshihiko*; Fujisawa, Akihide*; Inagaki, Shigeru*; Ida, Katsumi*; Hoshino, Katsumichi

In this Letter, we report model verifications for a key physics for the L-H transition. Radial electric field excitation, using discharges having a two-step transition. Examining time derivative of Poissons equation, it is found that the sum of the loss cone loss current and neoclassical bulk viscosity current agrees the experimentally observed current in the order of magnitude at the first transition. Following second transition and an ambipolar condition in the L-mode cannot be explained by the models.