Measurements of Electron Thermal Transport due to Electron Temperature Gradient Modes in a Basic Experiment

Production and identification of electron temperature gradient modes have already been reported [X. Wei, V. Sokolov, and A. K. Sen, Phys. Plasmas 17, 042108 (2010)]. Now a measurement of electron thermal conductivity via a unique high frequency triple probe yielded a value of chi(perpendicular to e) ranging between 2 and 10 m(2)/s, which is of the order of a several gyrobohm diffusion coefficient. This experimental result appears to agree with a value of nonlocal thermal conductivity obtained from a rough theoretical estimation and not inconsistent with gyrokinetic simulation results for tokamaks. The first experimental scaling of the thermal conductivity versus the amplitude of the electron temperature gradient fluctuation is also obtained. It is approximately linear, indicating a strong turbulence signature.