ICRF mode conversion flow drive on Alcator C-Mod**2010 23rd IAEA Fusion Energy Conf. (Daejeon, Republic of Korea, 11–16 October) presentation EXW/4-1.

Abstract

We have carried out a detailed study of ion cyclotron range of frequency (ICRF) mode conversion (MC) flow drive on the Alcator C-Mod tokamak including its dependence on plasma and RF parameters. The flow drive efficiency is found to strongly depend on the 3He concentration in D(3He) plasmas, a key parameter separating the ICRF minority heating regime and MC regime. At +90° antenna phasing (waves in co-Ip direction) and dipole phasing (waves symmetrical in both directions), we find that ΔV0, the change in the core toroidal rotation velocity, is in the co-Ip direction, increases with RF power and with Ip (opposite to the 1/Ip intrinsic rotation scaling). The flow drive efficiency decreases at higher plasma density and also at higher antenna frequency. The observed flow drive efficiency in H-mode has been small due to the unfavourable density scaling. The flow drive effect at −90° phasing appears to be saturated or decrease at high RF power. The up–down asymmetry in the MC to the ion cyclotron wave may be the key to understand the flow drive mechanism.