Destabilization of TAE modes by particle anisotropy
Plasmas heated by ICRF produce energetic particle distribution functions which are sharply peaked in pitch-angle, and the authors show that at moderate toroidal mode numbers, this anisotropy is a competitive and even dominant instability drive when compared with the universal instability drive due to spatial gradient. The universal drive, acting along, destabilizes only co-propagating waves (i.e., waves propagating in the same toroidal direction as the diamagnetic flow of the energetic particles), but stabilizes counter-propagating waves (i.e., waves propagating in the opposite toroidal direction as the diamagnetic flow of the energetic particles). Nonetheless, the authors show that in a tokamak, it is possible that particle anisotropy can produce a larger linear growth rate for counter-propagating waves, and provide a mechanism for preferred destabilization of the counter-propagating TAE modes that are sometimes experimentally observed.
- Research Organization:
- Univ. of Texas, Inst. for Fusion Studies, TX (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Research, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG03-96ER54346
- OSTI ID:
- 674818
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/ER/54346-846; ON: DE99000351; TRN: 99:000929
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: 20 Oct 1998
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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