Experimental and simulation results on filamentary structures observed in the Mega-Amp Spherical Tokamak (MAST) are presented and discussed. Fast camera data have been used to determine the mode number, toroidal and radial sizes and velocities of the filaments observed in L-mode, inter-edge localized mode (ELM) periods and ELMs which are summarized. Automated methods are applied to the analysis of L-mode image data in order to measure dependence with plasma parameters. This indicates that the mode number of L-mode edge turbulence increases with density and decreases with q95, while filament width has the opposite dependence.Simulations of L-mode discharges using the 3D, 2-fluid BOUT code produce similar sizes and radial velocities to the observations, and indicate that the source of these filaments is within a region ∼2 cm from the plasma edge in a spontaneously formed E × B shear layer. Ion temperature fluctuations in these filaments are found to be approximately double the magnitude of electron temperature fluctuations, probably due to fast parallel electron heat transport.
Overview of recent physics results from MAST