Mode conversion current drive experiments on Alcator C-Mod

In tokamak plasmas with multiple ion species, fast magnetosonic waves (FW) in the Ion Cyclotron Range of Frequency can mode convert to shorter wavelength modes at the Ion-Ion hybrid layer, leading to localized electron heating and current drive. Due to k1l upshifts associated with the poloidal magnetic field, only small net driven currents were predicted from mode converted Ion Bernstein Waves (IBW). As studied first by Perkins, and later confirmed experimentally with Phase Contrast Imaging measurements on Alcator C-Mod, poloidal field effects can also lead to mode conversion to Ion Cyclotron Waves (MCICW), on the low field side of the mode conversion layer. In this thesis, mode conversion current drive in the ICW-dominated regime is studied numerically and through experiments on Alcator C-Mod. Solving a dispersion relation for the mode converted waves in a slab geometry relevant to tokamak equilibria and in the finite Larmor radius limit, we find that mode conversion to Ion Cyclotron Waves is ubiquitous to high temperature conventional tokamaks, as a result of the central value for the safety factor qo 1. MCICWs are identified as kinetically modified Ion Cyclotron Waves in the regime w/kllVthe < 1. Full wave simulations with the TORIC code predict net currents can be driven by MCICW as a result of up-down asymmetries in the mode conversion process. Initial estimates with the Ehst-Karney parametrization indicated up to -- 100 kA could be driven for 3 MW input power in C-Mod plasmas. More accurate calculations, consistent with the polarization of MCICWs, were carried out by importing a quasilinear diffusion operator build from the TORIC fields in the Fokker-Planck code DKE, and predicted lower current drive efficiencies by a factor of 2.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• Parisot, Alexandre, 1979-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Ronald R. Parker.

• Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/40505

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/40505