ICRF heating with mode control provided by a rotating field antenna

Abstract

A rotating field antenna set — a pair of two closely spaced dual half-turn antennas — is used to tailor the azimuthal spectrum of the antenna field. It is demonstrated that the azimuthal mode of ICRF waves can be controlled by proper phasing of the antenna set. Ion heating is shown to be strongly dependent on the azimuthal mode number. When the antenna set is operated in the m = −1 (left rotating) mode, the m = −1 modified ion cyclotron wave is selectively excited, resulting in efficient ion heating.