D. C. Mcdonald R. A. Cairns C. N. Lashmore-Davies G. Le Clair
Detailed ray tracing, of wave propagation in a plasma near electron cyclotron resonances, suggests that refraction can lead to reduced absorption, in some cases. By studying the full wave equation for the ordinary wave near the fundamental, in a slab model, it is shown that such refraction does indeed reduce absorption, for this particular case, bu…
PublishedC. N. Lashmore-Davies V. Fuchs R. A. Cairns
A theory of fast wave absorption in a high-beta plasma is given. A reduced, second-order, ordinary differential equation has been used which includes all collisionless electron dissipation mechanisms and ion cyclotron damping over many harmonics. This is relevant to the high-harmonic fast wave heating scheme proposed by Ono [Phys. Plasmas 2, 4075 (…
PublishedC. N. Lashmore-Davies A. Thyagaraja R. A. Cairns
A cylindrical model of a tokamak is used to describe the nonlinear coupling between Alfven waves and sound waves. The model is applied to the case of a toroidal Alfven eigenmode (TAE) driven unstable by fusion alpha particles to explore its relevance to the nonlinear saturation of such modes, which can produce a loss of alpha particles in a burning…
PublishedC. N. Lashmore-Davies V. Fuchs A. K. Ram A. Bers
An analysis of ion cyclotron resonance heating in a plasma containing two ion species is given. Particular emphasis is placed on the important case of comparable concentrations of the two species. The properties of ion-Bernstein waves in such a plasma are discussed. A summary of the cutoff– resonance (Budden) and cutoff–resonance–cutoff (trip…
PublishedD. C. Mcdonald R. A. Cairns C. N. Lashmore-Davies
Electron cyclotron absorption (ECA) of electromagnetic radiation at the second harmonic is of interest in Tokamak physics both for plasma heating and current drive, as well as for some diagnostics. Modelling of the linear wave propagation for such problems is usually done by WKB ray tracing, despite the fact that the WKB theory is not strictly vali…
PublishedR. A. Cairns V. Fuchs C. N. Lashmore-Davies
We apply a fast wave approximation to the propagation of the fast wave across the magnetic field. This approximation involves replacing the hot plasma conductivity tensor by an approximation which reduces the problem to a second order differential equation. Such a procedure is particularly useful in the high harmonic regime, where many terms with t…
PublishedC. N. Lashmore-Davies D. A. Russell
The stability of the ion hybrid wave in a plasma containing two thermal ion species present in comparable proportions and a low density population of superthermal alpha-particles is analyzed. A simple, model distribution function consisting of a ring distribution in the perpendicular velocity and a Maxwellian in the parallel velocity is used for th…
PublishedR. A. Cairns H. Holt D. C. Mcdonald M. Taylor C. N. Lashmore-Davies
Absorption of waves propagating across an inhomogenous magnetic field is of crucial importance for cyclotron resonance heating. When the Larmor radius of the resonant particles is small compared to the wavelength then the propagation is described by differential equations, a comparatively simple method for obtaining which has recently been given by…
PublishedD. C. Mcdonald R. A. Cairns C. N. Lashmore-Davies
When a wave passes through an electron gyroresonance, in a plasma in the presence of a magnetic field gradient, there is a small spread in the resonance due to the electron's Larmor radius. Mathematically this is represented by the inclusion of the so called gyrokinetic term in the resonance condition, Lashmore-Davies and Dendy 1. The smallness of …
PublishedR. A. Cairns C. N. Lashmoredavies R. O. Dendy B. M. Harvey R. J. Hastie et al.
The inclusion of the variation of the equilibrium magnetic field across the Larmor orbits of the resonant particles is crucial for a self-consistent treatment of cyclotron resonance in plasmas. Two contrasting nonrelativistic self-consistent calculations [T. M. Antonsen and W. M. Manheimer, Phys. Fluids 21,2295 (1978); C. N. Lashmore-Davies and R. …
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