The characteristics of the edge radial electric field (Er) are studied in deuterium, hydrogen and helium plasmas at ASDEX Upgrade. The minimum of the Er well is analyzed as a function of pedestal parameters and the best correlation is found between the depth of the Er well and the ion pressure at the pedestal top. This result is consistent with Er being balanced by the main ion pressure gradient term. Studying the radial position of the Er minimum reveals that the Er well moves closer to the last closed flux surface the deeper the Er well is. This suggests that for deeper Er wells the distance between the steepest gradients in the ion temperature and ion density profile is reduced. The width of the Er well shows no significant variations despite changing the ion temperature, magnetic field and plasma particle species. At AUG, the Er well is on average 1.2 cm wide. A multi-machine comparison supports a machine size scaling of Er and indicates that the Er shear layer covers the outer 2% of the plasma minor radius independent of the size of the machine. Based on this scaling, the width of the Er well in ITER is estimated to ∼4 cm.
Experimental study of radial electric field and electrostatic potential fluctuation in the Large Helical Device