Use of a Gold Neutral Beam Probe to Study Fluctuation Suppression During Potential Formation in the GAMMA 10 Tandem Mirror

In the tandem mirror GAMMA 10, plasma confinement is achieved not only by the magnetic mirror configuration but also by the high potentials at both end regions. Before applying plug-electron cyclotron resonance heating (P-ECH), drift-type fluctuations were observed in the potential and density measurements. The suppression potential and density of these fluctuations were clearly determined by using a gold neutral beam probe (GNBP) system during the potential formation by the application of P-ECH. We studied the relationship between the suppression levels of the potential fluctuations and the effects of potential produced by changing the applied electron cyclotron heating power. Moreover, the particle-flux-related values obtained by examining the phase difference between the potential and density fluctuations were measured by using the GNBP. We clearly show that radial anomalous transport induces radial particle transport, which decreases the stored energy of the plasma.