LH launchers for tokamaks at IPR

Abstract

Earlier, a conventional grill launcher-based LHCD system has been developed to drive plasma current non-inductively in tokamaks at IPR (ADITYA and SST1) at a frequency (fo = ωo/2π) of 3.7 GHz, which has the ability to launch pure spectrum with high directivity. Grill having large number of sub-waveguides launches a sharp spectrum, which drive LH current more efficiently and therefore was preferred for carrying out plasma physics studies in a controlled manner. An over-dense plasma near the mouth of the launcher provides good coupling of LHWs with plasma and therefore the grill launcher needs to be placed close to the last close flux surface (LCFS). The grill launcher at IPR allows to launch LHWs having a parallel refractive index (N||) from 1.5 to 4.0 by varying the phase difference between adjacent sub-waveguides from 60° to 160°. For ADITYA tokamak, owing to space constraints, the grill launcher with eight sub-waveguides (arranged in two rows, each having four sub-waveguides) could be developed to launch of power up to 120 kW, and therefore, the topology of the ADITYA LHCD was not very complex. However, for the 1 MW LHCD system for SST1 tokamak, the grill launcher with sixty-four sub-waveguides (arranged in two rows, each having thirty-two sub-waveguides) was developed and the SST1 LHCD system, thus conceived, was huge and very complex offering tremendous engineering design challenges. For reactor-grade plasmas, where rf power of a few tens of MW would be launched in to the plasmas, a more compact and reactor-relevant LH launcher, often known as passive–active multijunction (PAM) is foreseen. The PAM launcher offers very good coupling with low reflection co-efficient (∼2–5%) when the plasma density near the mouth of the launcher is near cutoff densities for a given frequency (ωo = ωpe, the electron plasma frequency), and thus allowing it to be placed far away from the LCFS of the plasma, thereby minimizing deleterious effects on launcher due to hostile edge plasma conditions and makes this launcher relevant for reactor-grade plasmas. Further, the space behind the passive waveguide can be utilized for neutron shielding and efficient thermal management. On the contrary, it offers reduced directivity and the spectrum can be varied over a narrow range. Further, the network of transmission lines feeding this launcher is relatively simpler and offers less technological challenges. Thus, 250-kW PAM launcher (comprising of two modules)-based LHCD system for ADITYA-U tokamak has been designed and developed. The launched N|| may be varied over a narrow range (2.25 ± 0.375) by varying the phase difference between adjacent modules over 180° ± 90°. The physics requirements, design philosophy, engineering challenges/solutions, the key outcome and achievements as we embark on to PAM launcher are presented and discussed. Based on our experience of PAM launcher, for ADITYA-U tokamak, conceptual design of the PAM launcher for SST1 is also presented.