Influence of neutral particles on scrape-off layer turbulence with application to the interpretation of fast camera data

The role of neutral particles (atoms, molecules) on scrape-off layer turbulence is investigated using a 2D interchange model. This work is a first step towards a synthetic diagnostic for Gas Puff Imaging experiments, where gas is injected to visualize turbulent structures. A simple neutral model is used to identify various limiting cases of interest. Too strong puffing leads to a reduction of the turbulence fluctuation level. In the strong interaction regime, where the neutral density fluctuates, the relationship between plasma density maps and synthetic camera pictures is discussed. The EIRENE Monte Carlo code has been coupled to TOKAM2D, and a first study of the effect of the Monte Carlo noise on statistical properties of turbulence is presented. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.