A linear model of synergetic current drive with lower-hybrid wave and electron cyclotron wave

TL;DR

This paper introduces a linear model to efficiently calculate the synergistic current drive efficiency using lower-hybrid and electron cyclotron waves, revealing conditions for optimal synergy in plasma systems.

Contribution

The paper develops a new linear model incorporating relativistic and trapped effects to analyze synergetic current drive, providing quick calculation methods for real-time reactor applications.

Findings

Synergy occurs at smaller y values with fixed n_parallel.

Threshold y values increase as n_parallel decreases.

Model predictions align with quasilinear simulation results.

Abstract

A linear model of synergetic current drive (SCD) with lower-hybrid wave (LHW) and electron cyclotron wave (ECW) is proposed to efficiently calculate the quantitative SCD efficiency and reveal the conditions for the occurrence of SCD. In this model, the response function dominated by collisions in the presence of LHW is derived from the adjoint equations by using perturbation and Green-Function techniques, where the relativistic effect and the trapped effect are taken into account. The SCD efficiency is compared with the commonly used ECW current drive (ECCD) efficiency in the parameter space using our linear model. The results show two features of the synergy effect, One is that it is inclined to occurs at smaller $y = 2\omega_{c}/\omega$ with the fixed ECW parallel refractive index $n_{\parallel}$, and the other is that the threshold values of $y$, at which the synergy effect becomes sufficiently significant, shifts towards higher values with a decreasing $n_{\parallel}$. The quasilinear simulation on ECCD and SCD efficiency with a two-dimensional Fokker-Planck code are consistent with the results of the linear model in trends. Based on the linear SCD efficiency, criteria for the occurrence and the sufficient significance of the synergy effect are suggested, which indicate that the synergy effect is dependent on the power factor that quantifies the degree of the overlap of the two waves' quasilinear domains, the LHW power, and synergy electrons. The present work provides a method of quick matching and calculating of SCD with LHW and ECW, and may be important for the real-time application of the SCD in future reactors.