Three-dimensional non-axisymmetric magnetic fields are purposely applied to toroidally symmetric fusion plasmas in order to modify transport of heat and particle fluxes to the plasma-facing components (PFCs), and specifically to control and suppress edge localized modes (ELMs) in H-mode tokamak plasmas. This paper presents a comparative study between two magnetic configurations available in the RFX-mod device, namely the original reversed-field pinch configuration and the more recent low-field circular ohmic tokamak. The paper presents a detailed analysis of the modulation of electrostatic turbulence and induced transport in the presence of an externally applied magnetic perturbation, as measured in both configurations. A detailed study of the underlying magnetic topology in both configurations is given through the field line tracing code FLiT. The electrostatic turbulence induced flux is observed to be modulated by the underlying topology, with an enhancement close to the O-point and a reduction at the X-point of the induced magnetic island. The transport modification are discussed in terms of relevant frequency and wavenumber spectrum.
Magnetic fluctuations and energy transport in RFX