Current drive by asymmetrical heating in a toroidal plasma

Abstract

This report describes the first experimental observation of current generation by asymmetrical heating of ions. A unidirectional fast Alfven wave launched by a slow wave antenna inside the Texas Tech Tokamak. Asymmetrically heated the ions. Measurements of the asymmetry of the toroidal plasma current with probes at the top and bottom of the toroidal plasma column confirmed the current generation indirectly. Current generation, obtained in a one-species, hydrogen plasma, is a phenomenon which had not been predicted previously. Calculations of the dispersion relation for the fast Alfven wave near the fundamental cyclotron resonance in a one-species, hydrogen plasma, using warm plasma theory, support the experimental results.