Two-dimensional bispectral analysis of drift wave turbulence in a cylindrical plasma

Bispectral analysis and multichannel measurement are becoming attractive investigation tools in plasma fluctuation studies. In the Large Mirror Device-Upgrade, the measurement of fluctuations in the ion saturation-current with a 64-channel poloidal Langmuir probe array was performed. The two-dimensional (2D) (poloidal wave number and frequency) power spectrum showed a number of pronounced peaks and broadband fluctuations in the poloidal wave number-frequency space. We applied 2D bispectral analysis, which considers both the matching conditions of poloidal wave number and frequency, to the spatiotemporal waveform, and confirmed the nonlinear couplings between coherent-coherent, coherent-broadband, and broadband-broadband fluctuation components. More than ten peaks were revealed to have as their origins only three original parent modes generated in the plasma. Comparison between the theoretical estimate and experimental observation for the bicoherence showed good agreement.