Fundamental heating with stellarator wave modes

Journal Article · Sun Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 1998 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.872731· OSTI ID:573967

Svidzinski, V A; Swanson, D G ^[1]

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1. Department of Physics, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama 36849 (United States)

A perturbation method is developed to find the structure of Alfv{acute e}n wave modes in a cylindrical waveguide filled with a cold, collisional, uniform plasma with a vacuum layer between the plasma and a conducting wall when the magnetic field is a superposition of a uniform and an inhomogeneous l=2 field created by helical windings. The influence of the helical field on the wave mode structure is treated as a perturbation. It is shown that the m={minus}1 azimuthal component of a modified m=+1 fast Alfv{acute e}n wave is left-hand polarized in the central part of the plasma. This implies a coupling between the m=+1 fast (right-hand polarized) wave and m={minus}1 slow (left-hand polarized) waves due to the inhomogeneity of the l=2 fields. The coupling efficiency is examined for different plasma parameters. Results demonstrate that efficient coupling between the modes occurs for appropriate plasma parameters in this model, indicating that efficient plasma heating at the fundamental ion cyclotron frequency is possible in stellarators. {copyright} {ital 1998 American Institute of Physics.}

• OSTI ID: 573967
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Journal Name: Physics of Plasmas Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 5; ISSN PHPAEN; ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
ALFVEN WAVES
CYCLOTRON FREQUENCY
ION CYCLOTRON-RESONANCE
MAGNETIC FIELDS
PERTURBATION THEORY
PLASMA HEATING
POLARIZATION
STELLARATORS
THERMONUCLEAR REACTOR WALLS