A study of radio frequency (RF) field excitation in the edge of the plasma of DEMO is performed by means of the semi-analytic coupling code ANTITER II. The modeling uses the designed antenna and a reference low coupling density profile of ITER. The results show the existence of coaxial modes propagating between the wall and the Alfvén resonance region where surface modes are excited leading to large standing wave patterns all around the machine. The excitation of these modes can be strongly reduced for a strap current distribution of the antenna array which fulfills the two conditions i I i = 0 and i I i S i = 0 (I i : current of strap i, S i : toroidal strap position). These conditions are satisfied by the triple strap antenna of AUG that has allowed successful ICRH operation in a W coated machine. They are also achieved for the (0ππ0) phasing of the four columns of two poloidal triplets of radiating straps constituting the ITER antenna array. Ways to further optimize the cancellation of these edge modes are also investigated.

The antenna power coupling to the plasma centre and its possible deleterious coupling to the plasma edge are key parameters in an ion cyclotron resonance heating system. The influence on these parameters by the confluence between the slow and the fast magnetosonic waves is studied for the case of large machines. Until now, the modelling of the scrape off layer region has been calculated by ANTITER II, which contains only the fast wave description and where the confluence with the slow wave (S wave) is approximated by the Alfvén resonance. In the present study, a complete modelling of the slow and fast waves is made by ANTITER IV. The modelling by the two codes is compared and shows the important role of the Alfvén and the lower hybrid resonances for the excitation of large fields and associated power deposition at the edge of the plasma even far from the antenna location. The ANTITER IV modelling is thereafter applied to the case of the ITER antenna with a reference density profile and heating parameters. A comparative study is made for the edge power deposition and the excitation of large fields for different toroidal phasing cases of the antenna. This study also takes into account the tilting of the antenna array with respect to the total magnetic field in front of the antenna. If the Faraday screen is field-aligned, the excitation of the S wave occurs at the wave confluence; however, in the case of non-alignment the antenna directly excites the S wave. This effect is studied and quantified. All edge effects, even the direct excitation of S waves, can be strongly reduced by tailoring the current distribution in the straps of the antenna array. Resulting cases for the minimisation of edge power deposition in ITER and the reactor are studied.

An ion cyclotron resonance heating (ICRH) antenna system must launch radio frequency (RF) power with a wavenumber spectrum which maximizes the coupling to the plasma. It should also ensure good absorption while minimizing the wave interaction with the plasma edge. Such interactions lead to impurity release, whose effect has been measured far from the antenna location (Klepper et al. 2013; Wukitch et al. 2017; Perkins et al. 2019) and can involve the entire scrape-off layer. In the normal heating scenario, for which the frequency of the waves launched by the antenna is larger than the ion cyclotron frequency of the majority ions $\omega > \omega _{\textrm {ci},\textrm {maj}}$ , release of impurities due to ICRH can be affected by minimizing the low $|k_{\parallel }| < k_0$ power spectrum components of the antenna. Impurity release can be the result of low central absorption of the waves or power transfer from the fast to the slow wave due to the presence of a confluence in the plasma edge. In ASDEX Upgrade (AUG), a reduction of heavy impurity release by ICRH in the plasma was qualitatively well correlated to the parallel electric field and RF currents flowing around the antenna (Bobkov et al. 2017). In this article, we first show a correlation between the reduction in impurity release by ICRH in AUG and the rejection of the low $|k_{\parallel }| < k_0$ region of the antenna power spectrum. We show that the same correlation holds for results obtained in the Alcator C-Mod tokamak. Finally, using this idea, we reproduce ICRH induced impurity release behaviour in a not yet published experiments of JET, and make predictions for ITER and DEMO.

No abstract

ICRF antenna development for DEMO for the pre-conceptual phase is carried out by merging the existing knowledge about multi-strap ITER, JET and ASDEX upgrade antennas. Many aspects are taken over and adapted to DEMO, including the mechanical design and RF performance optimization strategies. The minimization of ICRF-specific plasma-wall interactions is aimed at by optimizing the feeding power balance, a technique already proven in practice. Technological limits elaborated for the components of ITER ICRF system serve as a guideline in the current design process. Several distinctive aspects, like antenna mounting, integration with the neighboring components or adaptation for neutron environment, are tackled individually for DEMO.

No abstract

In the ion cyclotron range of frequency (ICRF), the presence of a lower hybrid (LH) resonance can appear in the edge of a tokamak plasma and lead to deleterious edge power depositions. An analytic formula for these losses is derived in the cold plasma approximation and for a slab geometry using an asymptotic approach and an analytical continuation near the LH resonance. The way to minimize these losses in a large machine like ITER is discussed. An internal verification between the power loss computed with the semi-analytical code ANTITER IV for ion cyclotron resonance heating (ICRH) and the analytic result is performed. This allows us to check the precision of the numerical integration of the singular set of cold plasma wave differential equations. The set of cold plasma equations used is general and can be applied in other parameters domain.

No abstract