High-Harmonic Fast-Wave heating in NSTX

High-Harmonic Fast-Wave (HHFW), a radio-frequency technique scenario applicable to high-beta plasmas, has been selected as one of the main auxiliary heating systems on NSTX. The HHFW antenna assembly comprises 12 toroidally adjacent current elements, extending poloidally and centered on the equatorial plane. This paper reviews experimental results obtained with a symmetrical (vacuum) launching spectrum with k∥=14 m−1 at a frequency of 30 MHz. We describe results obtained when HHFW power is applied to helium and deuterium plasmas, during the plasma-current flattop period of the discharge. Application of 1.8-MW HHFW pulse to MHD quiescent plasmas resulted in strong electron heating, during which the central electron temperature, Teo more than doubled from ≈0.05 keV to 1.15 keV. In deuterium plasmas, HHFW heating was found less efficient, with a Teo increase of the order of 40% during a 1.8-MW HHFW pulse, from ≈400 eV to ≈550 eV. (At HHFW power of 2.4 MW, Teo increased by 60%, reaching 0.625 keV.) HHFW heati...