Confining a Tokamak Plasma with rf-Driven Currents

Abstract

Continuous toroidal electron currents, which sustain the poloidal magnetic field in tokamaks, may be generated by injecting waves with net parallel momentum into the plasma via phased waveguide arrays. Waves with high phase velocity can produce a current capable of confining a reactor plasma so that steady-state tokamak operation with acceptable power dissipation becomes possible.