Toroidal current initiation in low aspect ratio tokamaks based on single-particle orbit analysis

Abstract

Single-particle orbits in a low aspect ratio axisymmetric configuration have been studied to clarify their role in current initiation using electron cyclotron waves. In this study, electron guiding centre orbits are studied neglecting collisions and charge exchange. Current is generated mainly by the toroidal drift of mirror-trapped electrons. Analytic scaling laws for the current and the poloidal field generation are derived, and they are found to be functions of temperature, poloidal field strength, number of electrons and parameters defining the magnetic and geometrical configuration. The current increases with temperature and decreases with the poloidal field strength as long as the temperature is much smaller than the characteristic temperature, whose thermal velocity is defined by the product of poloidal cyclotron frequency and the major radius.