Nonstationary signal analysis of magnetic islands in plasmas

Rotating magnetic islands produce fluctuations on a variety of diagnostics in magnetic fusion energy plasmas. The analysis of these fluctuations requires the calculation of the amplitude, phase, and frequency of the oscillations. These three spectral quantities generally evolve in time, necessitating nonstationary signal analysis techniques. The Hilbert transform offers an efficient and accurate method of calculating these three quantities from one diagnostic signal. This feature allows the Hilbert transform to determine the success of the active rotation control of magnetic islands, and to calculate the profile of the diagnostic measurements in a frame of reference co-rotating with the magnetic island. Comparisons to quadrature and spectrogram techniques demonstrate the accuracy of the Hilbert transform method. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0034-6748(99)04812-1].