Drift Waves in Inhomogeneous Plasmas with Shear and Temperature Gradients.

Magnetic shear has been shown to have a significant stabilizing effect on drift waves. The fluctuation level of the shear-stabilized modes are calculated using the Pearlstein-Berk nonlocal normal modes as expansion eigenmodes of a test particle in a slab geometry. The test particles are dressed in their screening clouds; then the dressed particles are superimposed as if they were statistically uncorrelated in order to evaluate the density and electric field fluctuations around a series of independent rational surfaces in a shear-stabilized slab. It was found that the fluctuation induced heat transfer and diffusion are less than classical. The scattering cross section (near instability onset) is greater than the classical Thomson cross section.