Studies of radio frequency current drive in a plasma

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Abstract
The physics of radio-frequency current drive for steady-state Tokamak operation has been studied in the context of a conceptual small Tokamak, called the RST. Two distinctively different schemes of current drive by using RF waves have been discussed. In the first, a wave travelling in the toroidal direction damps on the electrons, thereby transferring momentum to the electrons, creating a current; typical of this category is Landau damping of traveling lower hybrid waves. The second general category is called 'enhanced bootstrap' current, in which RF waves may be used to enhance the cross-field particle diffusion above the neoclassical rate, thereby producing significant enhancement of the plasma bootstrap current at reduced plasma pressure.