Magnetic Confinement Fusion - Plasma Theory: Heating and Current Drive

Fusion par confinement magnétique - Théorie des plasmas : chauffage et génération de courant

Rémi Dumont (1)

1 IRFM - Institut de Recherche sur la Fusion par confinement Magnétique

Plasma heating is required to reach and maintain the conditions compatible with power production in magnetic fusion devices. In addition, current drive is essential to the operation and performance of tokamaks. This chapter reviews the main physics processes underlying heating and current drive in the framework of the kinetic theory, in particular radiofrequency wave propagation and absorption, and the collisional relaxation of energetic particles. The self-heating of burning plasmas is described, as well as the main auxiliary heating methods relevant to modern fusion devices, including neutral beam injection and radiofrequency waves in several range of frequencies

Keywords: Burning plasmas; Coulomb collisions; Current drive; Cyclotron damping; Electron cyclotron (EC) waves; Ion cyclotron (IC) waves; Kinetic theory; Landau damping; Lower hybrid (LH) waves; Neutral beam injection (NBI); Plasma heating; Quasilinear theory; Radiofrequency (RF) waves

Domains: Plasma Physics [physics.plasm-ph]; Physics [physics]; Popular Physics [physics.pop-ph]

Rémi Dumont. Magnetic Confinement Fusion - Plasma Theory: Heating and Current Drive. Encyclopedia of Nuclear Energy, Elsevier, In press, 9780128197257. ⟨cea-03134128⟩