Resonant wave–filament interactions as a loss mechanism for HHFW heating and current drive

Journal Article · 12 January 2022 · Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6587/ac3cfe · OSTI ID:1839823

Tierens, W. ; Myra, J. R. ; Bilato, R.; Colas, L.

Abstract Perkins et al (2012 Phys. Rev. Lett. 109 045001) reported unexpected power losses during high harmonic fast wave (HHFW) heating and current drive in the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX). Recently, Tierens et al (2020 Phys. Plasmas 27 010702) proposed that these losses may be attributable to surface waves on field-aligned plasma filaments, which carry power along the filaments, to be lost at the endpoints where the filaments intersect the limiters. In this work, we show that there is indeed a resonant loss mechanism associated with the excitation of these surface waves, and derive an analytic expression for the power lost to surface wave modes at each filament.

• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES)
• OSTI ID: 1839823
• Journal Information: Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, Journal Name: Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 64; ISSN 0741-3335
• Publisher: IOP PublishingCopyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United Kingdom
• Language: English