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Updated: Apr 16, 2026

A 100 KW Class Applied-field Magnetoplasmadynamic Thruster
Published on: December 22, 2018
Finding the elusive E×B staircase in magnetized plasmas
G Dif-Pradalier1, G Hornung2, Ph Ghendrih1
1CEA, IRFM, F-13108 St. Paul-lez-Durance cedex, France.
Abstract:
Turbulence in hot magnetized plasmas is shown to generate permeable localized transport barriers that globally organize into the so-called "ExB staircase" [G. Dif-Pradalier et al., Phys. Rev. E, 82, 025401(R) (2010)]. Its domain of existence and dependence with key plasma parameters is discussed theoretically. Based on these predictions, staircases are observed experimentally in the Tore Supra tokamak by means of high-resolution fast-sweeping X-mode reflectometry. This observation strongly emphasizes the critical role of mesoscale self-organization in plasma turbulence and may have far-reaching consequences for turbulent transport models and their validation.
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