High-frequency plasma-heating apparatus

Patent · 01 January 1978

OSTI ID:863169

Brambilla, Marco; Lallia, Pascal

An array of adjacent wave guides feed high-frequency energy into a vacuum chamber in which a toroidal plasma is confined by a magnetic field, the wave guide array being located between two toroidal current windings. Waves are excited in the wave guide at a frequency substantially equal to the lower frequency hybrid wave of the plasma and a substantially equal phase shift is provided from one guide to the next between the waves therein. For plasmas of low peripheral density gradient, the guides are excited in the TE.sub.01 mode and the output electric field is parallel to the direction of the toroidal magnetic field. For exciting waves in plasmas of high peripheral density gradient, the guides are excited in the TM.sub.01 mode and the magnetic field at the wave guide outlets is parallel to the direction of the toroidal magnetic field. The wave excited at the outlet of the wave guide array is a progressive wave propagating in the direction opposite to that of the toroidal current and is, therefore, not absorbed by so-called "runaway" electrons.

• Research Organization: Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• Assignee: United States of America as represented by United States Department of Energy (Washington, DC)
• Patent Number(s): 4,110,595
• Application Number: 05/588583
• OSTI ID: 863169
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

/219/376/
01
absorbed
adjacent
apparatus
array
chamber
confined
current
density
density gradient
direction
direction opposite
electric
electric field
electrons
energy
equal
excited
exciting
feed
field
frequency
frequency energy
frequency plasma
gradient
guide
guide array
guides
heating apparatus
high-frequency
hybrid
located
magnetic
magnetic field
mode
opposite
outlet
outlets
output
output electric
parallel
peripheral
phase
phase shift
plasma
plasma-heating
plasmas
progressive
propagating
provided
runaway
shift
so-called
substantially
substantially equal
therein
tm
toroidal
toroidal current
toroidal magnet
toroidal magnetic
toroidal plasma
vacuum
vacuum chamber
wave
wave guide
wave guides
waves
waves therein
windings