Examination of High-Density Plasma Heating on the GAMMA 10/PDX Central Cell with 3D Wave Analysis Code

Abstract

In GAMMA 10/PDX, ion heating is achieved using slow wave in the ion cyclotron frequency absorbed near the resonance layer. However, in high-density plasma, the slow wave is less likely to be excited due to the shielding effect. To overcome this challenge, researchers have investigated difference frequency (DF) waves excited by the nonlinear interaction of fast waves have been investigated. The fast waves can propagate to the core plasma even in high-density plasma making DF-waves an efficient option for ion heating. This study has suggested that a DF-wave with left-handed polarization, which is excited as a slow wave, is effective for ion heating in high-density plasma. The characteristics of the DF-wave were analyzed using a three-dimensional (3D) wave analysis code, TASK/WF3D, to investigate the ion resonance absorption of DF-wave heating. The results showed that when the antenna is positioned inside the core plasma to simulate DF-wave heating, ion resonance absorption is higher in high-density plasma than in low-density plasma. These results indicate that DF-wave heating is effective in high-density plasmas.