Alpha particle driven TAE instability suppression by a resonant RF field

Abstract

The toroidicity induced shear Alfven eigenmode (TAE) instability driven by the fusion alpha particle pressure gradient is found to be stabilized in the presence of a resonant RF field with Ω = k0⊥. vα⊥, where Ω is the frequency, k0 the wavenumber and vα⊥ is the alpha particle velocity component perpendicular to the magnetic field. This kind of resonance could occur during lower hybrid (LH) current drive in an ignited tokamak plasma. The RF electric field strength that is needed for stabilization is available from modern RF power sources