Stabilization of drift waves by lower hybrid waves of finite wavenumber

Abstract

The lower hybrid waves of finite wavenumber k0 are shown to be able to quench the entire k spectrum of unstable drift waves in tokamak plasmas for k0 greater than k, where k0 is perpendicular to k. In relatively cold plasmas, where k0 may become less than k, one needs to invoke the ion damping to stabilize the whole spectrum. The analysis explains very well the experimental results of Gore, Grun, and Lashinsky on the suppression of whole drift wave spectrum in a Q machine by a lower hybrid electric field.