Experimental determination of critical threshold in electron transport on Tore Supra.

In Tore Supra plasmas with fast wave electron heating, a critical threshold in the electron temperature gradient (inverted DeltaT(e)) is clearly observed, i.e., a finite value of inverted DeltaT(e) for which the turbulent heat diffusivity vanishes. The radial profile of this critical gradient is experimentally determined from a set of discharges characterized by similar plasma parameters with fast wave powers ranging from 0.75 to 7.4 MW. The dependence of the electron heat flux on the gradient length is found to be offset linearly. The offset term increases linearly with the ratio of the local magnetic shear to the safety factor.