Wave-number spectrum of drift-wave turbulence

A simple model for the evolution of turbulence fluctuation spectra, which includes neighboring interactions leading to the usual dual cascade as well as disparate scale interactions corresponding to refraction by large scale structures, is derived. The model recovers the usual Kraichnan-Kolmogorov picture in the case of exclusively local interactions and midrange drive. On the other hand, when disparate scale interactions are dominant, a simple spectrum for the density fluctuations of the form |nk|2 k-3/(1+k2)2 is obtained. This simple prediction is then compared to, and found to be in fair agreement with, Tore Supra CO2 laser scattering data.