Self-consistent removal of sawtooth oscillations from transient plasma data by Generalized Singular Value Decomposition

This paper addresses the problem of removing sawtooth oscillations from multichannel plasma data in a self-consistent way, thereby preserving transients that have a different physical origin. The technique which does this is called the generalized singular value decomposition (GSVD), and its properties are discussed. Using the GSVD, spatially resolved electron temperature measurements are analyzed. Special attention is paid to transient regimes in which the temperature is perturbed either by the laser blow-off injection of impurities or by pellet injection. Nonlocal transport issues are briefly discussed. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.