S. Ceccuzzi

RF H&CD systems for DEMO – Challenges and opportunities

The aim of driving a sufficient amount of plasma current with an appropriate radial current density profile is considered as one of the key challenges for a tokamak fusion power plant in steady state operation. Furthermore, efficient heating to enable transition to regime of enhanced confinement and to achieve breakeven plasma temperatures as well as MHD control and plasma breakdown assistance are required. In the framework of the EFDA Power Plant Physics and Technology (PPPT) activities, the ability of the Electron cyclotron (EC), Ion Cyclotron (IC) and Lower Hybrid (LH) systems to fulfil these requirements, was studied for a demonstration fusion power plant (DEMO). As boundary condition, a 1D description of the plasma for a pulsed DEMO based on system code studies combined with transport analysis was developed. The predicted 1D plasma parameters were used to calculate the current drive (CD) efficiency of each system and eventually optimised it. As an example, the EC current drive efficiency could be inc...

A multichannel reflectometer for edge density profile measurements at the ICRF antenna in ASDEX Upgrade

A multichannel reflectometer will be built for the new three-straps ICRF antenna of ASDEX Upgrade (AUG), to study the density behavior in front of it. Ten different accesses to the plasma are available for the three reflectometer channels that can be interchanged without breaking the machine vacuum. Frequency is scanned from 40 GHz to 68 GHz, in 10μs, which corresponds to a cut-off density ranging from 1018÷1019m−3 in the Right cut-off of the X-mode propagation, for standard toroidal magnetic field values of AUG.

Density profile sensitivity study of ASDEX Upgrade ICRF Antennas with the TOPICA code

During operation of the ASDEX Upgrade (AUG) ion cyclotron radio frequency (ICRF) system, Tungsten (W)‐coated poloidal limiters and structures connected along magnetic field lines to the antenna can be sources of W, which is attributed to sputtering by ions accelerated in radio frequency (RF) sheaths. In order to analyze and optimize the ICRF antenna performance, accurate and efficient simulation tools are necessary. TOPICA code was developed for analysis of ICRF antenna systems with plasma loading conditions modeled with ID FELICE code. This paper presents an initial comparative analysis of two AUG ICRF antennas for a set of model plasma density profiles (with varying density gradient and antenna cut‐off distance). The antennas are presently installed in AUG and differ in that one was partially optimized using HFSS code to reduce E∥ near fields. Power transferred to plasma and sheath driving RF potentials are computed.