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A detailed study of ion cyclotron interactions in a toroidal plasma has been carried out in order to elucidate the role of toroidal effects on ion cyclotron emission. It is well known that non-relaxed distribution functions can give rise to excitation of magnetosonic waves by ion cyclotron interactions when the distribution function increases with respect to the perpendicular velocity. We have extended and clarified the conditions under which even collisionally relaxed distribution function can destabilize magnetosonic eigenmodes. In a toroidal plasma, cyclotron interactions at the plasma boundary with ions having barely co-current passing orbits and marginally trapped orbits can cause destabilisation by the strong inversion of the distribution function along the characteristics of cyclotron interaction by neo-classical effects. The unstable interactions can further be enhanced by tangential interactions, which can also prevent the interactions from reaching the stable part of the characteristics, where they interact with trapped orbits. Conditions on the localization of the magnetosonic eigenmodes for unstable excitation are analysed by studying the anti-Hermitian part of the susceptibility tensor of thermonuclear alpha-particles. The pattern of positive and negative regions of the anti-Hermitian part of the susceptibility tensor of thermonuclear alpha-particles is, in general, consistent with the excitation of edge localized magnetosonic eigenmodes, even though the eigenmodes are usually not localized in the major radius and for distribution functions that have relaxed to steady state.

Experiments have been performed on the JET tokamak with 2nd harmonic ion cyclotron resonance heating (ICRH) of hydrogen in deuterium plasmas to assess the role of finite Larmor radius (FLR) effects on the resonant ion distribution function. More specifically, the clamping of high-energy resonant particle distribution due to weak wave-particle interaction at high energy is studied. The distributions of ICRH heated hydrogen ions have been measured with a high-energy neutral particle analyser in the range of 0.29-1.1 MeV. By changing the electron density the energy E*, around which the wave-particle interaction becomes weak, is varied. The dependence of the ion distribution on E* is experimentally observed for a number of discharges and FLR effects are clearly seen to affect the high energy tail shape. Experiments have been analysed with the combination of ICRH modelling codes PION and FIDO, including FLR effects, and good agreement with measurements have been found.

Neoclassical tearing modes, triggered by the long-period sawteeth expected in tokamaks with large non-thermal α-particle populations, may impose a severe β limit on experiments with large fusion yi ...

Experiments have been carried out on the JET tokamak to investigate fast 3He and hydrogen minority ion populations accelerated by ion cyclotron range of frequencies (ICRF) waves launched with multiple frequencies (i.e. up to four frequencies separated by up to ≈15%). This 'polychromatic' heating is compared with single-frequency, 'monochromatic', ICRF heating of reference discharges with similar power levels. Information on the fast ion populations is provided by two-dimensional gamma-ray emission tomography and the measurements are compared with numerical modelling. Polychromatic heating with resonances in the plasma centre (Rres ≈ R0) and on the low magnetic-field side (LFS) (Rres > R0) is found to produce predominantly high-energy standard trapped ions, while resonances on the high magnetic-field side (Rres < R0) increase the fraction of high-energy passing ions. Monochromatic heating with a central resonance produces stronger gamma-ray emission with the maximum emission in the midplane close to, and on the LFS of, the resonance, in agreement with the calculated radial distribution of fast ion orbits. Both the fast ion tail temperature and energy content are found to be lower with polychromatic waves. Polychromatic ICRF heating has the advantage of producing smaller-amplitude and shorter-period sawteeth, consistent with a lower fast ion pressure inside the q = 1 surface, and higher ion to electron temperature ratios.

High-power ion–cyclotron resonance heating (ICRH) can produce centrally peaked fast ion distributions with wide non-standard drift orbits exciting Alfven eigenmodes (AEs). The dynamics of the AE ex ...

Fast wave current drive (FWCD) experiments have been performed in JET plasmas with electron internal transport barriers produced with LHCD. Because of a large fraction of parasitic absorption, owing to weak single pass damping, the inductive nature of the plasma current and the interplay between the RF-driven current and the bootstrap current only small changes are seen in the central current profiles. The measured difference in the central current density for co- and counter-current drive is larger than the response expected from current diffusion calculations, but smaller than the driven currents, suggesting a faster current diffusion than that given by neo-classical resistivity. A large fraction of the power is absorbed by cyclotron damping on residual 3He ions while a significant fraction appears not to have been deposited in the plasma. The strong degradation of heating and current drive occurs simultaneously with strong increases in the Be II and C IV line intensities in the divertor. The degradation depends on the phasing of the antennas and increases with reduced single pass damping which is consistent with RF-power being lost by dissipation of rectified RF-sheath potentials at the antennas and walls. Asymmetries in direct electron heating, lost power and production of impurities, fast ions and gamma-rays are seen for co- and counter-current drive. These differences are consistent with the differences in the absorption on residual 3He ions owing to the RF-induced pinch. Effective direct electron heating, comparable to the indirect electron heating with H-minority heating, occurs for dipole phasing of the antennas without producing a significant fast ion pressure and with low impurity content in the divertor plasma.

The effects of RF-induced transport and orbit topology of resonant ions are analysed for high power ion cyclotron resonance heating (ICRH). These effects are found to play important roles in the details of the high-energy part of the distribution function, and affect the driven current and momentum transfer to the background plasma. The finite drift orbit width broadens the power deposition and leads to losses of high-energy ions intercepted by the wall. RF-induced transport of resonant ions across magnetic flux surfaces appears due to the toroidal acceleration of resonant ions interacting with waves having a finite toroidal mode number. Heating with waves propagating parallel to the current leads to a drift of the turning points of trapped resonant ions towards the midplane. As the turning points meet, the orbits will de-trap, preferentially into co-current passing orbits, which may ultimately be displaced to the low field side of the magnetic axis. Ions with such orbits are a typical feature in plasmas heated with directed toroidal mode spectra of waves propagating parallel to the plasma current. These ions will be subjected to a strong RF diffusion partly caused by the focusing of the wave field and partly by the Doppler shifted cyclotron resonance, as it approaches tangency with the drift orbit. The resonance condition puts a limitation on the achievable energy for these ions, which is more severe than for corresponding trapped ions. This results in a rather flat tail up to a critical energy, above which the tail rapidly decays. Heating with waves propagating anti-parallel with the plasma current curtails the energy of the trapped ions due to a vertical outward drift of the turning points of the trapped ions. Heating with symmetric spectra, in particular with waves with low magnitude of the toroidal mode numbers, gives rise to high-energy trapped ions with wide orbits, of which the maximum energy is either restricted by the fact that the RF diffusion vanishes due to cancellation of the perpendicular acceleration over a gyro orbit or by the drift orbits being intercepted by the wall. In the steady state the main source for momentum transfer to the bulk plasma comes from the finite momentum of the wave for heating with asymmetric spectra. For heating with symmetric spectra the enhanced losses of high-energy trapped ions can produce a net counter-current torque on the plasma.

Edge localized magnetosonic modes are analyzed in toroidal plasmas. For low and medium high toroidal mode numbers they are found to propagate poloidally around the plasma. A model of these modes is ...

When testing the SHAD system on JET ICRF antennas, parasitic signals in the detection band (5–20MHz) were detected. We have identified emission from grid breakdown events in the Neutral Beam injectors, and Ion Cyclotron Emission from the plasma. Spurious signals in the band 4–10 MHz are also often observed at the onset of ELM events. Such parasitic signals could complicate the design and operation of SHAD in ICRF systems for fusion devices.

The achievement in the last two decades of controlled fusion in the laboratory environment is opening the way to the realization of fusion as a source of sustainable, safe and environmentally responsible energy. The next step towards this goal is the construction of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), which aims to demonstrate net fusion energy production on the reactor scale. This paper reviews the current status of magnetic confinement fusion research in view of the ITER project and provides an overview of the main remaining challenges on the way towards the realization of commercial fusion energy production in the second half of this century.

The JET programme is devoted to the consolidation of ITER design choices and the qualification of ITER integrated regimes of operation. During the experimental campaigns carried out in 2008 and 2009 attention focussed on the test of the ITER-like ICRH antenna, the ITER scenario preparation, the verification of the adequacy of the ITER poloidal field coil design and the test of disruption mitigation methods such as massive gas injection. From 2011 the new ITER-like wall with all beryllium and tungsten plasma facing components, the neutral beam power upgrade and the enhanced control and diagnostic capability will allow key questions on plasma-wall interactions, fuel retention and plasma impurity control with the foreseen ITER wall materials to be addressed. Finally, feasibility studies have confirmed the option of installing an ITER-technology based 170 GHz/10 MW electron cyclotron resonance heating system for the control of MHD activity and the development of advanced tokamak scenarios, and 32 in-vessel coils for ELM control capable of producing magnetic perturbation spectra with a Chirikov parameter above unity for plasma currents up to 5 MA. During the ITER construction phase, JET will be the only device of its class in operation and will therefore play a key role in the preparation of ITER operations - saving time and reducing risk from the ITER programme.

In this paper, significant results in the heating and current drive domains obtained at JET in the past few years following systems upgrade and dedicated experimental time, will be reviewed. Firstly, an overview of the new Ion Cyclotron Resonance Frequency (ICRF) heating capabilities will be presented i.e. results from the ITER‐Like ICRF antenna (ILA), the use of External Conjugate‐T and 3dB hybrid couplers to increase the ICRF power during ELMy H‐mode. Furthermore, experiments to study the influence of the phasing of the ICRF antenna on power absorption and coupling will be described. Looking at Low Hybrid (LH) issues for ITER, the effect of the location of gas injection on the LH coupling improvement at large launcher‐separatrix distances will be discussed as the possibility to operate at ITER‐relevant power densities. Experiments to characterise the LH power losses in the Scrape‐Off‐Layer (SOL) and to determine the LH wave absorption and current drive using power modulation will be shown. Finally, plas...

One aim of the 2007 JET shutdown is to increase the ICRF power by installing a new, internally matched, two‐strap antenna and by adding external conjugate‐T matching to two of the four A2 antennas for improved ELM‐resilience. The new so‐called ITER‐like antenna is designed to deliver 7.2 MW to the plasma which, together with the A2 antenna improvements, effectively doubles the power available for ICRF heating. At the resulting power densities the resonant ion power partition, the collisional bulk plasma ion and electron heating fractions and profiles are all affected. With the increased power more resonant ions are accelerated to higher energies, leading to an increased electron heating fraction and, due to the wider ion orbits, broader heating profiles. The heating asymmetries with directed antenna spectra are enhanced, partly due to the higher power and thereby larger toroidal momentum transfer between wave and ions, and partly due to the reduced pitch‐angle scattering of the higher‐energy ions. Here, c...

The theory of ion cyclotron emission, ICE, in tokamak plasmas has been revised by including the effects of finite orbit width and RF‐induced spatial transport in the wave‐particle interactions. Two mechanisms for excitation of edge localised magnetosonic modes are discussed. An inverted distribution function of suprathermal ions near the plasma edge is driving the modes. Counter current propagating waves can be excited by interacting with barely co passing ions. Co current propagating waves interacting at the inner leg only can drive the modes unstable by throwing the fast ions out of the plasma.

In the initial phase of ITER H plasmas will be used in order to avoid activating the machine. The reference ICRF healing scenarios rely on minority species such as Helium (3He) or deuterium (D). These schemes’ distinctive feature comes from the presence of the fast magnetosonic wave ion‐ion hybrid resonance/cut‐off pair, between the antennas and the minority cyclotron layer. In order to document these unusual heating schemes, ICRF experiments were carried out recently on JET. First, the use of 3He ions in H plasmas was investigated with a sequence of discharges in which 5 MW of ICRF power was coupled to the plasma and the 3He concentration was varied from below 1% up to 10%. The inverted minority heating regime was observed at low concentrations (up to ∼2%). Energetic tails in the 3He distribution were observed with effective temperatures up to 300 keV and central electron temperatures up to 6 keV. At around 2%, a sudden transition was reproducibly observed to the mode conversion regime, in which the ICRF...

Excitation of global Alfven eigenmodes by fast ions during ICRH is frequently observed in tokamaks. The importance of the phasing of the ICRH antennae for the excitation of these modes have been seen in experiments. The Alfven eigenmodes will drive the distribution function of the fast ions towards a state where the gradient in phase space is reduced. In general, the fast ions are displaced outwards, which can have a significant effect on the ICRH power deposition and lead to reduced heating efficiency. To calculate the effect on the heating profiles by the excitation of Alfven eigenmodes and the effect on the resonating ions the Monte Carlo code FIDO, used for ICRH, has been upgraded to include particle interactions with MHD‐waves. This allows self‐consistent calculations of the mode amplitude and the distribution function during RF heating.

The scenario of 3He(4He) minority ICRH has been studied with the SELFO code, revealing the importance of finite orbit width and orbit topology for ICRH induced currents and torques.

Polychromatic, multi‐frequency, ion cyclotron resonance heating provide a useful tool for the optimization of plasma performance in fusion devices by tailoring the fast ion distribution function. Not only can the radial profile of the fast ion distributions be modified, but also the fast energy content, the power partition on resonant species and the bulk plasma ion‐ and electron heating rates. This work describes finite orbit effects of polychromatic ICRH which are demonstrated using the SELFO code.

An overview is presented of the results obtained on JET by the Heating and Current Drive Task Force (TF-H) in the period May 2000 - March 2001. A strongly improved Lower Hybrid (LH) coupling was achieved by optimising the plasma shape and by controlling the local edge density via the injection of CD4. Up to 4 MW have been coupled in type III ELMy H-mode and/or on Internal Transport Barrier (ITB) plasmas with reflection coefficients as low as 4%. Long lasting quasi steady-state ITBs have been obtained by adding the LH current to the bootstrap and beam driven components. Furthermore the use of LH in the pre-heat phase results in electron temperature in excess of 10 keV, deep negative magnetic shear and strongly reduced power threshold for ITB formation. Preliminary results on ICRF coupling are reported including the effect of CD4 injection and the commissioning of the wide band matching system on ELMy plasmas. 1C CD scenarios have been studied in H and 3He minority and used to modify the stability of the sawtooth to influence the formation of seed islands for the appearance of NTM. Up to 3 MW of 1C power was coupled in the high magnetic field fast wave CD scenario. Preliminary MSE measurements indicate differences in the current profiles between -90° and +90° phasing. Careful measurements of the toroidal rotation, in plasmas heated by ICRF only show some dependence on the position of the resonance layer. Finally the use of ICRF minority heating under real-time control, in response to measured plasma parameters to simulate the effect of alpha particles, is presented. ICRF heating results in ITER non-activated scenarios are reported in a companion paper.

The RF power partition and power deposition on resonant ion species during ICRH depend strongly on the distribution functions of the heated ions. The distribution functions in turn depend on RF int ...

Coupling to broad spectra of weakly damped magnetosonic eigenmodes in the ion cyclotron range of frequencies is analyzed. Small variations in density or magnetic field can significantly affect the phase of the reflected wave and hence the coupling in large tokamaks. Under such conditions a statistical treatment is appropriate for predictions of coupling properties. Although the average coupling resistance is independent of single pass damping the antenna voltage, the wave field at the walls and the average power absorbed in the plasma are affected. The average losses caused by rectified rf sheath potentials increase with decreasing single pass damping and with decreasing width of the toroidal mode spectrum. The losses are sensitive to the misalignment between the equilibrium magnetic field and the Faraday screens of the antennas. These effects can at least partly explain the reduced heating efficiencies observed in scenarios with weak single pass damping and the differences in performance between different antennas and phasings.