Microturbulence studies in RFX-mod

TL;DR

This paper investigates microturbulence in RFX-mod Reversed Field Pinches, focusing on how microinstabilities like ITG, TEM, and microtearing influence plasma transport in core and boundary regions.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive assessment of the existence and impact of electrostatic and electromagnetic microinstabilities in RFX-mod RFPs.

Findings

Microinstabilities are present in RFX-mod RFPs.

Microturbulence affects particle and heat transport.

Steep temperature gradients can trigger microinstabilities.

Abstract

Present-days Reversed Field Pinches (RFPs) are characterized by quasi-laminar magnetic configurations in their core, whose boundaries feature sharp internal transport barriers, in analogy with tokamaks and stellarators. The abatement of magnetic chaos leads to the reduction of associated particle and heat transport along wandering field lines. At the same time, the growth of steep temperature gradients may trigger drift microinstabilities. In this work we summarize the work recently done in the RFP RFX-mod in order to assess the existence and the impact upon transport of such electrostatic and electromagnetic microinstabilities as Ion Temperature Gradient (ITG), Trapped Electron Modes (TEM) and microtearing modes.