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Title: Electron cyclotron current drive modelling with parallel momentum correction for tokamaks and stellarators

Journal Article · · Physics of Plasmas
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4751436· OSTI ID:22068814
; ;  [1]
  1. Max-Planck Institut fuer Plasmaphysik, EURATOM Association, D-17491 Greifswald (Germany)

The electron cyclotron current drive (ECCD) is described by the solution of a drift-kinetic equation (DKE) with the quasi-linear heating term which is highly localised in phase space. Within the adjoint approach, an equivalent DKE must be solved without this highly localised source, and the ECCD is described by a straightforward convolution in phase space. The parallel momentum correction technique [Maassberg et al., Phys. Plasmas 16, 072504 (2009)] reduces the problem to the solution of a simplified mono-energetic DKE. The mono-energetic distribution functions are calculated by the DKES code [W. I. van Rij and S. P. Hirshman, Phys. Fluids B 1, 563 (1989)]. Parallel momentum correction, requiring only an energy-dependent weighting factor, is applied to these distribution functions allowing for the direct estimation of the EC-driven current. For small yet finite collisionalities, a rather simple model for ECCD is presented. In this approach, the symmetric portion of the electron distribution function with respect to v{sub Parallel-To} (the Ware pinch contribution) is neglected and an 'off-set' only in the passing particle domain adds to the collisionless (anti-symmetric) distribution function. For this approximation, only the mono-energetic parallel conductivity coefficient as function of the collisionality is needed. The impact of small yet finite collisionalities on ECCD is shown for X2- and O2-scenarios at W7-X.

OSTI ID:
22068814
Journal Information:
Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 19, Issue 10; Other Information: (c) 2012 EURATOM; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English