Fast-wave heating of a two-component plasma

Abstract

The use of the compressional hydromagnetic mode (also called the magnetosonic or, simply, the fast wave) is examined in some detail with respect to the heating of a tritium plasma containing a few percent deuterium. Efficient absorption of wave energy by the deuteron component is found when ω = ωC (deuterons), with Qwave ⪆ 100. Reasonable efficiencies are found also for electron heating, but coherence effects between transit-time and Landau damping for electrons reduce the total absorption for both processes to one-half of the transit-time power, calculated separately.