Hybrid Simulation Study on Anisotropic Response of Ions to a Low-Frequency Wave in a Field-Reversed Configuration

Abstract

Using a hybrid simulation code, we studied the application of low-frequency wave to a field-reversed configuration plasma. The wave application antenna was arranged to sandwich the separatrix, and the antenna current was varied sinusoidally with a maximum of 30 kA and a frequency of 80 kHz. The simulation revealed that when the ion pressure is regarded as a tensor, the parallel ion temperature estimated from the axial velocity distribution near the midplane exceeds the perpendicular temperature. That is, the plasma ions respond anisotropically to a low-frequency wave.