Absorption of fast waves excited by a phased four-loop antenna array in the JFT-2M tokamak

Abstract

The absorption characteristics of fast waves excited by a phased four-loop antenna array have been investigated experimentally in JFT-2M. The frequency of the fast waves is 200 MHz, which corresponds to approximately the tenth harmonic of the ion cyclotron frequency of hydrogen. The fast wave power is absorbed mainly by the bulk thermal electrons. It is shown that the absorption efficiency of the excited fast waves is improved with increasing density and temperature, and with decreasing phase velocity of the fast wave. The results are consistent with the theoretical predictions obtained from ray-tracing calculations. The power deposition profile is obtained through synchronous detection of the electron cyclotron emission modulated by a periodic heat source. In this modulation experiment with a limiter plasma on JFT-2M the electron thermal diffusivity is 2-3 m2·s−1 and the convection velocity is 20-40 m·s−1 at n̄e = 2 × 1019 m−3 and Ip = 230 kA. The resultant power deposition profile has a peak at the plasma centre and agrees well with that calculated with the ray-tracing code. The absorption efficiency calculated from the power deposition profile is 0.3-0.4 at n̄e = 2 × 1019 m−3 and Te0 = 0.7 keV, which agrees roughly with that estimated from the initial rise of the plasma stored energy. The electron heating efficiency estimated from the absorption efficiency is (4–5) × 1019 eV·m−3·kW−1 and the incremental confinement time is 8-10 ms, which is slightly longer than that in L-mode plasmas heated by neutral beam injection and/or ion cyclotron heating in JFT-2M.