Investigation of the second harmonic electron cyclotron current drive efficiency on the T-10 tokamak*

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Experiments on second harmonic electron cyclotron current drive were done on the T-10 tokamak using four gyrotrons. Total powers up to 1.2 MW at a frequency of 140 GHz were injected. Current generation by electron cyclotron (EC) waves was demonstrated in the experiments. The efficiency η of current generation and its dependence on plasma parameters were measured and it was shown that the efficiency is a nonlinear function of input power, more closely predicted by Fokker–Planck calculations than by linear theory. The interaction of EC waves with the tail of the electron distribution was shown to be important. It was also found that current density profile redistribution played an important role in the plasma behavior.