Edge Ion Heating by Launched High Harmonic Fast Waves in NSTX
Authors: T.M. Biewer, R.E. Bell, S.J. Diem, C.K. Phillips, J.R. Wilson, and P.M. Ryan
Date of PPPL Report: December 2004
Published in: Physics of Plasmas 12:5 (May 2005) Article No. 056108 (7 pages). Invited paper at the 46th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics (15-19 November 2004, Savannah, Georgia).
A new spectroscopic diagnostic on the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) measures the velocity distribution of ions in the plasma edge simultaneously along both poloidal and toroidal views. An anisotropic ion temperature is measured during high-power high harmonic fast wave (HHFW) radio-frequency (rf) heating in helium plasmas, with the poloidal ion temperature roughly twice the toroidal ion temperature. Moreover, the measured spectral distribution suggests that two populations of ions are present and have temperatures of typically 500 eV and 50 eV with rotation velocities of -50 km/s and -10 km/s, respectively (predominantly perpendicular to the local magnetic field). This bi-modal distribution is observed in both the toroidal and poloidal views (for both He+ and C2+ ions), and is well correlated with the period of rf power application to the plasma. The temperature of the hot component is observed to increase with the applied rf power, which was scanned between 0 and 4.3 MW. The 30 MHz HHFW launched by the NSTX antenna is expected and observed to heat core electrons, but plasma ions do not resonate with the launched wave, which is typically at >10th harmonic of the ion cyclotron frequency in the region of observation. A likely ion heating mechanism is parametric decay of the launched HHFW into an Ion Bernstein Wave (IBW). The presence of the IBW in NSTX plasmas during HHFW application has been directly confirmed with probe measurements. IBW heating occurs in the perpendicular ion distribution, consistent with the toroidal and poloidal observations. Calculations of IBW propagation indicate that multiple waves could be created in the parametric decay process, and that most of the IBW power would be absorbed in the outer 10 to 20 cm of the plasma, predominantly on fully stripped ions. These predictions are in qualitative agreement with the observations, and must be accounted for when calculating the energy budget of the plasma.