Self-regulated oscillation of transport and topology of magnetic islands in toroidal plasmas

The coupling between the transport and magnetic topology is an important issue because the structure of magnetic islands, embedded in a toroidal equilibrium field, depends on the nature of the transport at the edge of the islands. Measurements of modulated heat pulse propagation in the DIII-D tokamak have revealed the existence of self-regulated oscillations in the radial energy transport into magnetic islands that are indicative of bifurcations in the island structure and transport near the q = 2 surface. Large amplitude heat pulses are seen in one state followed by small amplitude pulses later in the discharge resulting in a repeating cycle of island states. These two states are interpreted as a bifurcation of magnetic island with high and low heat pulse accessibility. This report describes the discovery of a bifurcation in the coupled dynamics between the transport and topology of magnetic islands in tokamak plasmas.