Inward particle transport by plasma collective modes

A model for the rate of density rise observed when neutral gas is fed into a plasma-containing chamber is presented for regimes where known collisional transport processes do not provide an adequate explanation. A dense layer of cold plasma produced at the edge of the plasma column and the resulting relatively sharp ion temperature gradient, as compared with the local density gradient, can lead to the excitation of electron temperature fluctuations driven by ion drift modes. The net inflow of electrons and ions that is produced by these modes has been included in a one-dimensional transport code used to simulate experiments performed by the Alcator device. The linear and quasi-linear theories of these modes are given for the regimes of interest. The cold-plasma-layer model is also consistent with the presence of an outflow of impurity ions, due to impurity driven modes, that balance the inflow produced by discrete collisions.