Cross-Field Ion Transport and Heating Due to Parametric Decay of Lower Hybrid Waves

Parametric decay of lower hybrid pump waves into daughter lower hybrid waves and electrostatic ion-cyclotron waves was observed above instability threshold power levels in a fully ionized plasma. The ion velocity distribution function was measured in time and space by the nonperturbing techniques of laser-induced fluorescence and ion optical tagging. Significant ion heating, $T_i$ up to $6T_{i0\mathrm{}}$, and cross-field transport were observed in the regime ${\omega }_0\gtrsim 12{\omega }_{\mathrm{pi}}$.