Radio-frequency electromagnetic field measurements for direct detection of electron Bernstein waves in a torus plasma

Abstract

To identify the mode-converted electron Bernstein wave (EBW) in a torus plasma directly, we have developed an interferometry system, in which a diagnostic microwave injected outside of the plasma column was directly detected with the probing antenna inserted into the plasma. In this work, plasma production and heating are achieved with 2.45 GHz, 2.5 kW electron cyclotron heating (ECH), whereas diagnostics are carried out with a lower power (10 W) separate frequency (1-2.1 GHz) microwave. Three components, i.e., two electromagnetic (toroidal and poloidal directions) and an electrostatic (if refractive index is sufficiently higher than unity, it corresponds to radial component), of ECRF electric field are simultaneously measured with three probing antennas, which are inserted into plasma. Selectivities of each component signal were checked experimentally. Excitation antennas have quite high selectivity of direction of linear polarization. As probing antennas for detecting electromagnetic components, we employed a monopole antenna with a length of 35 mm, and the separation of the poloidal (O-wave) and toroidal (X-wave) components of ECRF electric field could be available with this antenna. To detect EBW, which is an electrostatic wave, a small tip (1 mm) antenna was used. As the preliminary results, we detected signals that have three characteristics of EBW, i.e., short wavelength, backward propagation, and electrostatic.