Sawtooth stabilization by localized electron cyclotron heating in a tokamak plasma

摘要

Sawtooth oscillations (STO) in the ohmically heated WT-3 tokamak are strongly modified or suppressed by localized electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECH) near the q = 1 surface, where q refers to the safety factor. The effect of ECH is much stronger when it is applied on the high field side (the inner side of the tokamak) as compared to the low field side (outer side). Complete suppression of the STO is achieved for the duration of the ECH when it is applied on the high field side, in a low density plasma, provided the ECH power exceeds a thresholds value. The STO stabilization is attributed to a modification of the current density profile by hot electrons generated by ECH, which reduces the shear in the q = region. 14 refs., 5 figs.