Global particle simulation of lower hybrid wave propagation and mode conversion in tokamaks

摘要

Particle-in-cell simulation of lower hybrid (LH) waves in core plasmas is presented with a realistic electron-to-ion mass ratio in toroidal geometry. Due to the fact that LH waves mainly interact with electrons to drive the current, ion dynamic is described by cold fluid equations for simplicity, while electron dynamic is described by drift kinetic equations. This model could be considered as a new method to study LH waves in tokamak plasmas, which has advantages in nonlinear simulations. The mode conversion between slow and fast waves is observed in the simulation when the accessibility condition is not satisfied, which is consistent with the theory. The poloidal spectrum upshift and broadening effects are observed during LH wave propagation in the toroidal geometry.