title: Finding the elusive E×B staircase in magnetized plasmas.
abstract: Turbulence in hot magnetized plasmas is shown to generate permeable localized transport barriers that globally organize into the so-called "ExB staircase" [G. Dif-Pradalier et al., Phys. Rev. E, 82, 025401(R) (2010)]. Its domain of existence and dependence with key plasma parameters is discussed theoretically. Based on these predictions, staircases are observed experimentally in the Tore Supra tokamak by means of high-resolution fast-sweeping X-mode reflectometry. This observation strongly emphasizes the critical role of mesoscale self-organization in plasma turbulence and may have far-reaching consequences for turbulent transport models and their validation.
authors.affiliation: CEA, IRFM, F-13108 St. Paul-lez-Durance cedex, France.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dif-Pradalier
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Physics, Ghent University, 9000 Gent, Belgium.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hornung
authors.affiliation: CEA, IRFM, F-13108 St. Paul-lez-Durance cedex, France.
authors.forename: Ph
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ghendrih
authors.affiliation: CEA, IRFM, F-13108 St. Paul-lez-Durance cedex, France.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sarazin
authors.affiliation: CEA, IRFM, F-13108 St. Paul-lez-Durance cedex, France.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Clairet
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas, Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau, France.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vermare
authors.affiliation: CASS and CMTFO, University of California at San Diego, San Diego, California 92093, USA.|WCI Center for Fusion Theory, NFRI, Daejeon 305-333, Korea.
authors.forename: P H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Diamond
authors.affiliation: Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik, 85748 Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Abiteboul
authors.affiliation: CEA, IRFM, F-13108 St. Paul-lez-Durance cedex, France.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Cartier-Michaud
authors.affiliation: CEA, IRFM, F-13108 St. Paul-lez-Durance cedex, France.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ehrlacher
authors.affiliation: CEA, IRFM, F-13108 St. Paul-lez-Durance cedex, France.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Estève
authors.affiliation: CEA, IRFM, F-13108 St. Paul-lez-Durance cedex, France.
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Garbet
authors.affiliation: CEA, IRFM, F-13108 St. Paul-lez-Durance cedex, France.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Grandgirard
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas, Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau, France.
authors.forename: Ö D
authors.initials: ÖD
authors.lastname: Gürcan
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas, Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau, France.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hennequin
authors.affiliation: Institute for Advanced Study, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 816-8580, Japan.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kosuga
authors.affiliation: CEA, IRFM, F-13108 St. Paul-lez-Durance cedex, France.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Latu
authors.affiliation: CEA, IRFM, F-13108 St. Paul-lez-Durance cedex, France.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Maget
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas, Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau, France.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Morel
authors.affiliation: CEA, IRFM, F-13108 St. Paul-lez-Durance cedex, France.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Norscini
authors.affiliation: CEA, IRFM, F-13108 St. Paul-lez-Durance cedex, France.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sabot
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas, Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau, France.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Storelli