Electron cyclotron heating at down-shifted frequencies in existing tokamak devices

Technical Report · Sat Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1985

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5467257· OSTI ID:5467257

Mazzucato, E; Fidone, I; Giruzzi, G; Krivenski, V

Plasma heating in existing tokamak devices by electron cyclotron waves with frequency (f) significantly smaller than the electron gyrofrequency (f/sub c/) is investigated for the case of Maxwellian plasmas. It is shown that for central electron temperatures larger than 3 keV, strong absorption of extraordinary waves can occur at values of toroidal field for which the condition f = f/sub c/ is not satisfied in the plasma region. The cases of f = 60 GHz and f = 100 GHz are discussed for the PLT and TFTR devices as representative of medium (approx. =30 kG) and high (approx. =50 kG) magnetic field tokamaks, respectively. Numerical calculations with a ray tracing code indicate that most of the rf energy is absorbed in a central plasma region. These results are of practical interest because they significantly simplify the main technical problem of ECH in a tokamak reactor, i.e., the development of high frequency and high power microwave sources.

• Research Organization: Princeton Univ., NJ (USA). Plasma Physics Lab.; CEA Centre d'Etudes Nucleaires de Fontenay-aux-Roses, 92 (France). Dept. de Recherches sur la Fusion Controlee
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-76CH03073
• OSTI ID: 5467257
• Report Number(s): PPPL-2229; ON: DE85015306
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
700101* -- Fusion Energy-- Plasma Research-- Confinement
Heating
& Production
BOLTZMANN STATISTICS
CLOSED PLASMA DEVICES
ECR HEATING
ELECTRON TEMPERATURE
FREQUENCY MODULATION
FREQUENCY RANGE
HEATING
HIGH-FREQUENCY HEATING
MODULATION
PLASMA HEATING
THERMONUCLEAR DEVICES
TOKAMAK DEVICES