title: Analogous saturation mechanisms of the ion and electron temperature gradient drift wave turbulence.
abstract: New experimental results and theoretical arguments indicate that a novel saturation mechanism of the electron temperature gradient modes is related to its coupling to a damped ion acoustic mode. The experimental bicoherence data show multimode coupling between two high frequency radial harmonics of electron temperature gradient in the vicinity of (∼2  MHz) and one low frequency ion acoustic (∼45  kHz) mode. A unique feedback diagnostic also verifies this coupling. It is pointed out that a near identical mechanism is responsible for ITG mode saturation [V. Sokolov, and A. K. Sen, Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 165002 (2004)], indicating its plausible generic nature.
authors.affiliation: Plasma Research Laboratory, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sokolov
authors.affiliation: Plasma Research Laboratory, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA.
authors.forename: A K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Sen