Radio-frequency sheaths physics: Experimental characterization on Tore Supra and related self-consistent modeling

Abstract

During the 2011 experimental campaign, one of the three ion cyclotron resonance heating (ICRH) antennas in the Tore Supra (TS) tokamak was equipped with a new type of Faraday screen (FS). The new design aimed at minimizing RF sheaths as well as increasing the heat exhaust capability of the actively cooled screen. It proved to be inefficient for attenuating the RF-sheaths on the screen itself on the contrary to the heat exhaust concept that allowed operation despite higher heat fluxes on the antenna. In parallel, a new approach has been proposed to model self-consistently RF sheaths: the SSWICH (Self-consistent Sheaths and Waves for IC Heating) code. Simulations results from SSWICH coupled with the TOPICA antenna code were able to reproduce the difference between the two FS designs and part of the spatial pattern of heat loads and floating potential. The poloidal pattern is a reliable result that mainly depends on the electrical design of the antenna while the radial pattern is on the contrary highly sensitive to loosely constrained parameters such as perpendicular conductivity that generates a DC current circulation from the the private region inside the antenna limiters to the free SOL outside these limiters. Moreover the cantilevered bars seem to be the element in the design of the new screen that enhanced RF sheaths.