Saturation mechanism of decaying ion temperature gradient driven turbulence with kinetic electrons

Idomura, Yasuhiro   

In this work, we address saturation mechanisms of decaying turbulence induced by the ion temperature gradient driven trapped electron mode. In the simulation, turbulent transport is quenched in the nonlinear quasi-steady phase, where temperature profiles exceeding linear critical temperature gradient parameters are formed. This kind of nonlinear critical temperature gradient is sustained by radial electric fields with strong shear, which is generated by corrugated density profiles. It is found that the density profile structure is related to electrons transport near low order mode rational surfaces, where non-adiabatic response of passing electrons becomes important.