Simulation on effect of poloidal power spectrum on lower hybrid wave propagation

The coupling of lower hybrid wave to the plasma is a crucial issue for efficient current drive in tokamaks. This paper establishes a new coupling model which assumes the antenna to be a curved face and the plasma to be a cylinder. Power spectrum considering the coupling between wave-guides in both poloidal and toroidal direction is simply estimated and discussed. The effect of the poloidal wave vector on wave propagation, power deposition and driven current is also investigated with the help of lower hybrid current drive code. Results show that the poloidal wave vector affects the ray tracing, and also has effect on power deposition and driven current. The effect of the poloidal wave vector on power deposition and driven current profile depends on plasma parameters. Preliminary studies suggest that it seems possible to control the current profile by adjusting the poloidal phase difference between the waveguide in poloidal direction.

Effect of Wave Accessibility on Lower Hybrid Wave Current Drive in Experimental Advanced Superconductor Tokamak with H-Mode Operation

The effect of the wave accessibility condition on the lower hybrid cm＇rent drive in the experimental advanced superconductor Tokamak （EAST） plasma with H-mode operation is studied. Based on a simplified model, a mode conversion layer of the lower hybrid wave between the fast wave branch and the slow wave branch is proved to exist in the plasma periphery for typical EAST H-mode parameters. Under the framework of the lower hybrid wave simulation code （LSC）, the wave ray trajectory and the associated current drive are calculated numerically. The results show that the wave accessibility condition plays an important role on the lower hybrid current drive in EAST plasma. For wave rays with parallel refractive index n｜｜= 2.1 or n｜｜ = 2.5 launched from the outside midplane, the wave rays may penetrate the core plasma due to the toroida] geometry effect, while numerous reflections of the wave ray trajectories in the plasma periphery occur. However, low current drive efficiency is obtained. Meanwhile, the wave accessibility condition is improved if a higher confined magnetic field is applied. The simulation results show that for plasma parameters under present EAST H-mode operation, a significant lower hybrid wave current drive could be obtained for the wave spectrum with peak value n｜｜ = 2.1 if a toroidal magnetic field BT =2.5 T is applied.

Poloidal rotation induced by injecting lower hybrid waves in tokamak plasma edge

The poloidal rotation of the magnetized edge plasma in tokamak driven by the ponderomotive force which is generated by injecting lower hybrid wave(LHW) electric field has been studied. The LHW is launched from a waveguide in the plasma edge, and by Brambilla's grill theory, analytic expressions for the wave electric field in the slab model of an inhomogeneous cold plasma have been derived. It is shown that a strong wave electric field will be generated in the plasma edge by injecting LH wave of the power in MW magnitude, and this electric field will induce a poloidal rotation with a sheared poloidal velocity.

Study of Bridging of the Spectral Gap in the Lower Hybrid Wave Current Drive in the HT-7 Tokamak

An additional lower hybrid wave （LHW） with a higher refractive index （N//） was investigated in the HT-7 tokamak to bridge the spectral gap. It was found that the spectral gap between the wave and the electrons in the outer region was bridged by the additional wave with a higher N// spectrum. The results showed that the sawteeth oscillation was suppressed by launching the additional wave, and that the power deposition profile was moved outwards and the current profile was broadened due to the application of the additional wave. Our study indicates that the spectral gap may be bridged by an additional wave with a higher N// spectrum in the outer region.

Benchmark Simulations of Gyro-Kinetic Electron and Fully-Kinetic Ion Model for Lower Hybrid Waves in Linear Region

Particle-in-cell （PIC） simulation method has been proved to be a good candidate to study the interactions between plasmas and radio-frequency waves. However, for waves in the lower hybrid range of frequencies, a full PIC simulation is not efficient due to its high computational cost. In this work, a gyro-kinetic electron and fully-kinetic ion （GeFi） particle simulation model is applied to study the propagations and mode conversion processes of lower hybrid waves （LHWs） in plasmas. With this method, the computational efficiency of LHW simulations is greatly increased by using a larger grid size and time step. The simulation results in the linear regime are validated by comparison with the linear theory.

Relativistic effect on synergy of electron cyclotron and lower hybrid waves on EAST

In recent experiments on EAST,the electron temperature at the center can be raised to 9.7 ke V by injecting electron cyclotron(EC)and lower hybrid(LH)waves simultaneously.With such strong core electron heating,the relativistic effect could play an important role in the interactions between the plasma and waves.In order to explore the relativistic effect on synergy between the EC and LH waves on EAST,ray-tracing/Fokker-Planck simulations are conducted to investigate electron heating for a typical discharge with a center electron temperature of 9.7 ke V.It is found that the relativistic effect can cause the EC wave to deposit its power deeper in the plasma core,where the synergy between the EC and LH waves occurs and enhances the absorption of the LH waves.As a result,a high center electron temperature can be achieved.

LHCD Properties with a New Lower Hybrid Wave Antenna on HT-7 Tokamak

The structure and the characteristic power spectrum of a new lower hybrid wave antenna on the HT-7 tokamak are briefly described in this paper. The main experimental properties with the new antenna have been demonstrated by showing the dependence of current drive efficiency and particle confinement time on phase difference between adjacent waveguides of the antenna. A few preliminary analyses about the experimental results are also discussed in the paper.

The Realization of Low Loop Voltage Start-up of HT-7 Tokamak Discharge with the Assistance of Lower Hybrid Wave

Low voltage start-up was realized in HT-7 discharges under the assistance of lower hybrid (LH) waves. The use of a strong LH wavet which can Change its N// spectrum in a large range of several milliseconds, made the loop voltage for start-up reduce from around 20 V to less than 5 V. It means that the electric field for HT-7 start-up decreases from 2.5-3 V/m to 0.6 V/m. Some physical phenomena such as the consumption of magnetic flux in start-up phase and the radiation from the initial plasma were observed in this kind of low voltage start-up discharges.

The Analysis and Improving of the Microwave Exciter in the Lower Hybrid Wave System

When we carry out lower hybrid wave heating and current driving plasma experiment at tokamak, we need mega-watt order of microwave power. The microwave signal at frequency of 2450 MHz is generated by a microwave exciter. According to the experiment＇s demands, the microwave exciter must provide output power of 1.5～ 2. 5 W with stabilized frequency and amplitude tobe used as the klystron input. Being amplified by the klystron, the microwave signal is transmitted through the transmitting system to the antenna and is emitted into the HL-2A tokamak. So we can see that the microwave exciter＇s function is very important to the lower hybrid wave heating and current driving plasma experiment.

Nonlinear Structures of Lower Hybrid Wave in Collision Plasmas

Nonlinear structures of lower hybrid wave in collision plasmas are studied using the two-fluid theory.The oscillatory shock wave is observed due to the effects of the electron-neutral collision and the density inhomogeneity.In the cold electron limit,the oscillatory shock wave becomes the ordinary shock wave.In the collisionless limit,the dominated equation becomes Kd V equation and the lower hybrid solitons arise.The amplitude of the nonlinear structure is depressed by the plasma inhomogeneity,but is hardly affected by the electron-neutral collision.

Edge Plasma behavior during Improved Confinement by Lower Hybrid Wave Heating in HT-6M Tokamak

Lower hybrid heating (LHH) has been successfully carried out in the HT-6M toka-mak. The H-mode has been obtained with a power threshold of 50 kW under a boronized wall condition. Both energy and particle confinements have been improved along with a dropped edge plasma density and an increase electron temperature during the LHH phase. A negative Er well plays a key role of triggering and sustaining the good confinement. Both electrostatic fluctuation of the plasma potential and the density fluctuations dropped to an ultra-low level. The observation of an enhanced Er shear before the reduction in turbulence level is consistent with an increased Er shear as the cause of turbulence suppression.

Observation of the lower hybrid waves near the three-dimensional null pair

Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental process in plasma,which is thought to play important roles both in laboratory and natural plasmas through affecting magnetic topology,heating and accelerating particles. During an event on Oct. 1st,2001,the Cluster tetrahedron circled around the magnetic reconnection region several times,and Xiao et al. first identified the null pair and found that the spectrum of the null-point oscillation shows the maximum power near the lower-hybrid frequency. In this paper we report the observation of electromagnetic and electrostatic wave enhancements near lower hybrid frequency associated with the reconnection process near the null pair. The lower hybrid waves(LHWs) with quasi-perpendicular propagation were identified and also confirmed by the power law of the spectrum of electric and magnetic fields.

Simulation of Lower Hybrid Current Drive for DEMO

Lower hybrid (LH) wave is not only convenient to generate a flat or reversed magnetic shear profiles, but also helps one to explore scenarios for steady-state tokamak operation with improved confinement. Here with LSC code (lower hybrid simulation code), we calculate density and temperature profiles, relative power of injected wave and current wave lunch for two options of DEMO at the launched LH wave frequency 5 GHz. Two plasma scenarios pertaining to two different DEMO options, known as pulsed (option 1) and steady-state (option 2) models, have been analyzed. We perceive that power deposition by using lower hybrid wave injection mainly takes place near the edge of plasma and approximately in more peripheral region for both of options but has approximately higher efficiency for option 1 compared to option 2. About current wave lunch, a major part of that is close to the plasma edge for both of options. We have some considerable parts that reach to internal layers for option 1 and then current drive mainly takes place in a wider, more peripheral region for option 1.

Impact of core electron temperature on current profile broadening with radiofrequency wave heating and current drive in EAST

In recent EAST experiments,current profile broadening characterized by reduced internal inductance has been achieved by utilizing radio-frequency current drives(RFCD).In contrast to previous density scan experiments,which showed an outward shift of the current density profile of lower hybrid current drive(LHCD)in higher plasma density,the core electron temperature(T_(e)(0))is found to affect the LHCD current profile as well.According to equilibrium reconstruction,a significant increase in on-axis safety factor(q0)from 2.05 to 3.41 is observed by careful arrangement of RFCD.Simulations using ray-tracing code GENRAY and Fokker–Planck code CQL3D have been performed to thoroughly analyze the LHCD current profile,revealing the sensitivity of the LHCD current profile to T_(e)(0).The LHCD current density tends to accumulate in the plasma core with higher current drive efficiency benefiting from higher T_(e)(0).With a lower T_(e)(0),the LHCD current profile broadens due to off-axis deposition of power density.The sensitivity of the power deposition and current profile of LHCD to T_(e)(0)provides a promising way to effectively optimize current profile via control of the core electron temperature.

低杂波注入对剥离气球模的作用

基于BOUT++代码研究了托卡马克高约束模等离子体中低杂波(LHW)注入对边缘台基区剥离气球模(P-B模)线性和非线性特性的影响.模拟中分别考虑了LHW驱动的常规主等离子体电流和刮削层螺旋电流丝(HCF)产生三维扰动磁场对P-B模的作用.线性结果表明,LHW驱动的主等离子体电流通过降低平衡的归一化压强梯度和磁剪切,使得线性环向模谱整体向高模数和低增长率的方向移动.非线性模拟表明,由于线性模谱的展宽,LHW驱动的主等离子体电流对P-B模不同模式具有整体的抑制效果,可以降低边缘局域模(ELM)造成的台基能量损失;LHW驱动HCF产生的三维扰动磁场可以通过增强不同模式之间的耦合,促进主模之外的其他模式增长来降低ELM造成的能量损失.研究发现,HCF产生的三维扰动磁场促进增长的P-B模式集中在较高模数,当P-B模的主导模式远离此模数区间,ELM能量损失降低更明显.研究结果有助于深入理解LHW控制ELM实验中的物理机制.

刮削层内低杂波波散射全波解数值模拟研究

低杂波电流驱动(Lower Hybrid Current Drive,LHCD)是托卡马克的主要辅助加热与电流驱动方式之一,研究表明,低杂波在刮削层内的边界寄生效应会显著降低低杂波电流驱动效率。其中,边界密度涨落引起的波散射会导致刮削层内的低杂波波谱变化,从而改变低杂波功率沉积位置和电流驱动效率。本文使用全波解方法研究全超导托卡马克(Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak,EAST)装置上刮削层内密度涨落导致的低杂波波散射,重点分析不同特征的低频电子密度涨落对波散射的影响。模拟结果表明:密度波包(blob)引起的散射导致低杂波功率流的空间结构的改变,blob造成的背向散射比前向散射更明显;blob内的密度涨落大小主要影响波场扰动幅度,blob的半径主要影响波散射的空间范围,多个blob造成的全场扰动显著增加。

HL－1装置中LHCD和等离子体参数的关系

本文研究了在ＨＬ－１托卡马克的不同放电阶段的低混杂波驱动特性。给出了驱动电流及驱动效率和等离子体参数，如电子平均密度ｎｅ、等离子体电流Ｉｐ及纵向磁场的关系。也给出和分析了波驱动和入射波功率的关系。在放电平段，对正反向驱动效率进行了研究和比较。

HL-2M装置低混杂波电流驱动系统高精度数字温度测量仪的研制

为HL-2M低混杂波电流驱动系统研制了16路J型数字校准热电偶测温仪,可实现16通道温度测量,测温范围为0~250°C,测量范围内误差绝对值小于1°C,具有本地高清液晶显示温度值和电脑远程温度采集功能。该测温仪已成功用于HL-2M低混杂波加热系统的调试实验,对不同输出功率条件下高功率速调管输出腔温度进行了测量,保证了速调管运行的安全性。

HL-2A装置低杂波鉴相器标定与实验研究

用低杂波鉴相器对相位测量系统各通道经进行了相位校准,得到了各通道的相位电压关系曲线,并进行了线性拟合,线性拟合误差小于3°;推导出了相位电压关系表达式,与校准得到的相位电压曲线相比平均误差小于0.7°。该系统已成功用于HL-2A装置低杂波实验,对4支速调管的输出相位进行了测量,并得到了放电过程中相位随阴极高压波动的曲线,得出了阴极电压波动2.2%引起相位波动13.8°的结论。

EAST低杂波系统天馈线保护设计与实现

介绍了EAST低杂波系统天馈线保护的设计及其实现。针对EAST装置低杂波系统微波陶瓷窗破裂的原因,在低杂波系统天馈线上设置了高反射保护和打火保护两种保护措施,其中打火保护可以在打火发生后20μs以内迅速切断微波输出。实验结果表明,两种保护并行工作,能有效地保护整个波系统。