High Density Plasma Heating in the Tokamak à Configuration Variable ...

• Main Author: Curchod, Loïc
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Lausanne, EPFL 2011
• Subjects: plasma; high density; H-mode; heating; current drive; electron cyclotron waves; ECW; ECH; ECCD; electron Bernstein waves; EBW; EBH; EBCD; O-X-B; mode conversion; power absorption; soft X-ray detector; DMPX; diamagnetic loop; DML; lower-hybrid waves; LH; parametric instability; PI; loop-antenna; TCV; tokamak; plasmas; haute densité; mode-H; chauffage; génération de courant; ondes cyclotroniques électroniques; ondes de Bernstein électroniques; conversion de mode; absorption de puissance; détecteur de rayons-X mous; boucle diamagnétique; ondes hybrides inférieures; instabilité paramétrique; antenne
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5075/epfl-thesis-5012; https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/64455

The Tokamak à Configuration Variable (TCV) is a medium size magnetic confinement thermonuclear fusion experiment designed for the study of the plasma performances as a function of its shape. It is equipped with a high power and highly flexible electron cyclotron heating (ECH) and current drive (ECCD) system. Up to 3 MW of 2nd harmonic EC power in ordinary (O2) or extraordinary (X2) polarization can be injected from TCV low-field side via six independently steerable launchers. In addition, up to 1:5 MW of 3rd harmonic EC power (X3) can be launched along the EC resonance from the top of TCV vacuum vessel. At high density, standard ECH and ECCD are prevented by the appearance of a cutoff layer screening the access to the EC resonance at the plasma center. As a consequence, less than 50% of TCV density operational domain is accessible to X2 and X3 ECH. The electron Bernstein waves (EBW) have been proposed to overcome this limitation. EBW is an electrostatic mode propagating beyond the plasma cutoff without upper ...