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Updated: Jun 21, 2026

Magnetically Induced Rotating Rayleigh-Taylor Instability
Published on: March 3, 2017
Energetic-electron-driven instability in the helically symmetric experiment
C B Deng1, D L Brower, B N Breizman
1Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA.
Abstract:
Energetic electrons generated by electron cyclotron resonance heating are observed to drive instabilities in the quasihelically symmetric stellarator device. The coherent, global fluctuations peak in the plasma core and are measured in the frequency range of 20-120 kHz. Mode propagation is in the diamagnetic drift direction of the driving species. When quasihelical symmetry is broken, the mode is no longer observed. Experimental observations indicate that the unstable mode is acoustic rather than Alfvénic.
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