Observation of spontaneously excited waves in the ion cyclotron frequency range on JT-60U

Ichimura, Makoto*; Higaki, Hiroyuki*; Kakimoto, Shingo*; Yamaguchi, Yusuke*; Nemoto, Tatsuki*; Katano, Makoto*; Ishikawa, Masao; Moriyama, Shinichi; Suzuki, Takahiro

Nuclear Fusion, 48(3), p.035012_1 - 035012_7, 2008/03

https://doi.org/10.1088/0029-5515/48/3/035012

In this paper, experimental observations of spontaneously excited waves in the ion cyclotron range of frequency (ICRF) on JT-60U are described. The fluctuations in ICRF are driven by the presence of non-thermal ion distribution in magnetic confinement plasmas. Two types of magnetic fluctuations are detected: one is due to high energy D ions from neutral beam injections and the other is due to fusion products (FPs) of He and T ions. These fluctuations have been reported as ion cyclotron emissions (ICEs) in the burning plasma experiments on large tokamaks. This paper describes the first measurement of the spatial structures of the excited modes in the poloidal and toroidal directions. It is confirmed by using ICRF antennas as magnetic probes that all modes excited spontaneously have magnetic components and couple to the antenna straps. The modes due to D ions have small toroidal wave number and will behave as electrostatic waves. On the while, the measurement of finite in the modes due to FP ions supports the excitation of the Alfvn waves is the possible origin of FP-ICEs. It is also confirmed that the excited modes due to FP ions have different wave structures and are suggested to be in the different branch of the Alfvn waves, that is, the fast Alfvn wave and the slow Alfvn wave. Frequency peaks due to FP ions are sometimes split into doublet shape as observed in JET experiments. The phase differences of both peaks are measured and indicate that two waves are traveling in both toroidal directions. Both beam-driven ICEs and FP-ICEs are observed and those spatial structures are obtained on JT-60U.