Experiments on helicons in DIII-D-investigation of the physics of a reactor-relevant non-inductive current drive technologyPaper based on contribution EX/P3-22 presented at IAEA FEC, Kyoto, October 2016

Experiments have begun in DIII-D to evaluate a toroidally-directed spectrum of helicon waves (also known as 'very high harmonic fast waves', 'fast waves in the lower hybrid range of frequencies', or 'whistlers') that can generate efficient non-inductive current drive by...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nuclear fusion 2018-10, Vol.58 (10)
Main Authors: Pinsker, R.I., Prater, R., Moeller, C.P., deGrassie, J.S., Petty, C.C., Porkolab, M., Anderson, J.P., Garofalo, A.M., Lau, C., Nagy, A., Pace, D.C., Torreblanca, H., Watkins, J.G., Zeng, L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
comb-line
current drive
DIII-D
helicon
traveling wave antenna
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Experiments have begun in DIII-D to evaluate a toroidally-directed spectrum of helicon waves (also known as 'very high harmonic fast waves', 'fast waves in the lower hybrid range of frequencies', or 'whistlers') that can generate efficient non-inductive current drive by Landau absorption in a reactor plasma. Modeling has shown (Prater et al 2014 Nucl. Fusion 54 083024) that non-inductive current drive at mid-radius (ρ ~ 0.5) should be achievable in DIII-D with fast waves at 0.5 GHz in high-beta conditions with an efficiency twice that of other non-inductive current drive tools currently available on DIII-D (neutral beams and electron cyclotron current drive). An innovative traveling wave antenna (TWA) of the 'comb-line' type with 12 radiating modules has been constructed, installed in DIII-D, and has been tested at very low power (
ISSN:0029-5515
1741-4326
DOI:10.1088/1741-4326/aad1f8