The L-H transition in the ASDEX tokamak was investigated. The level of fluctuations both in the scrape-off layer and in a narrow region inside the separatrix drops on a 100 mu s timescale. Density turbulence coming from the edge and magnetic turbulence, as measured with magnetic probes, show a similar behavior. Before and during the transition no frequency shift in the fluctuation spectra could be detected which would indicate the rapid appearance of a radial E-field in the region of the H-mode barrier. Within milliseconds after the L-H transition new fluctuations propagating in the electron diamagnetic direction are destabilized which however exhibit no marked influence on transport across the barrier. In the bulk of the plasma fluctuation spectra show a frequency shift which is dominated by toroidal plasma rotation due to neutral beam injection. The initial transport barrier is deduced to lie inside the separatrix with a width of <or=3 cm.
Transport analysis of the edge zone of H-mode plasmas by computer simulation