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The ITER Ion Cyclotron Heating and Current Drive system will deliver 20 MW of radio frequency power to the plasma in quasi continuous operation during the different phases of the experimental programme. The system also has to perform conditioning of the tokamak first wall at low power between main plasma discharges. This broad range of requirements imposes a high flexibility and a high availability. The paper highlights the physics and design requirements on the IC system, the main features of its subsystems, the predicted performance, and the current procurement and installation schedule. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The antenna design proposed here is based on the resonant double loop concept with conjugate T matching to make the circuit resilient to strong plasma load variations as ELMs. The antenna is constituted of two main parts; the in-vessel launcher which is inside the primary torus vacuum and the Compact Vacuum Tuners (CVT) that is located after the first barrier in a private vacuum. This CVT allows to match at the strap location, the antenna impedance with the plasma load, over the 45 to 55 MHz frequency range. It has been designed to ease its repair and maintenance, and can be easily removed from the rear without breaking the primary vacuum. Apart from the Faradays screens fit to shape the plasma edge, the in-vessel launcher and CVT are made out of 6 identical modules, to allow the best economical approach for the manufacture, the assembly and the maintenance of the antenna. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long plasma discharges on the Tore Supra (TS) tokamak were extended in 2004 towards higher powers and plasma densities by combined Lower Hybrid (LH) and Ion Cyclotron Range of Frequencies (ICRF) waves. RF pulses of 20s×8MW and 60s×4MW were produced. TS is equipped with 3 ICRF antennas, whose front faces are ready for CW operation. This paper reports on their behaviour over high power long pulses, as observed with infrared (IR) thermography and calorimetric measurements. Edge parasitic losses, although modest, are concentrated on a small surface and can raise surface temperatures close to operational limits. A complex hot spot pattern was revealed with at least 3 physical processes involved : convected power, electron acceleration in the LH near field, and a RF-specific phenomenon compatible with RF sheaths. LH coupling was also perturbed in the antenna shadow. This was attributed to RF-induced DC E×B0 convection. This motivated sheath modelling in two directions. First, the 2D topology of RF potentials was investigated in relation with the RF current distribution over the antenna, via a Green’s function formalism and full-wave calculation using the ICANT code. In front of phased arrays of straps, convective cells were interpreted using the RF current profiles of strip line theory. Another class of convective cells, specific to antenna box corners, was evidenced for the first time. Within 1D sheath models assuming independent flux tubes, RF and rectified DC potentials are proportional. 2D fluid models couple nearby flux tubes via transverse polarisation currents. Unexpectedly this does not necessarily smooth RF potential maps. Peak DC potentials can even be enhanced. The experience gained on TS and the numerical tools are valuable for designing steady state high power antennas for next step devices. General rules to reduce RF potentials as well as concrete design options are discussed. © 2005 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the heat loads on Ion Cyclotron Range of Frequency launchers plasma facing components is a crucial task both for operating present tokamaks and for designing ITER ICRF launchers as these loads may limit the RF power coupling capability. Tore Supra facility is particularly well suited to take this issue. Parametric studies have been performed which enables to get an overall detailed picture of the different heat loads on several areas, pointing to different mechanisms at the origin of the heat power fluxes. Lessons are drawned both with regards to Tore Supra possible operational limits and to ITER ICRF launcher design. © 2005 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When the magnetic shear vanishes over a wide spatial region close to the q = 2 surface, a strong MHD activity ascribed to a global tearing mode m/n = 2/1 is observed, corresponding to a 15% reduction of the current drive efficiency, and a significant flattening of the HXR profile localized in the vicinity of the island Calculations of the HXR bremsstrahlung and the LH current drive efficiency are reported based on Fokker-Planck calculations to assess the role played by the fastest electrons of the tail, and identify the fraction which is lost by the MHD perturbation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]