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Fully non-inductive plasma start-up was successfully achieved by using a well-controlled microwave source on the spherical tokamak, QUEST. Non-inductive plasmas were maintained for approximately 3–5 min, during which time power balance estimates could be achieved by monitoring wall and cooling-water temperatures. Approximately 70%–90% of the injected power could be accounted for by calorimetric measurements and approximately half of the injected power was found to be deposited on the vessel wall, which is slightly dependent on the magnetic configuration. The power distribution to water-cooled limiters, which are expected to be exposed to local heat loads, depends significantly on the magnetic configuration, however some of the deposited power is due to energetic electrons, which have large poloidal orbits and are likely to be deposited on the plasma facing components.

Both start-up and sustainment of plasma were successfully achieved by fully non-inductive current drive using microwave with a frequency of 8.2 GHz. Plasmas current of 15 kA was implemented for 1 s. Magnetic surface reconstruction exhibited a plasma shape with an aspect ratio of below 1.5. The plasma current was dependent significantly on the launched microwave power and vertical magnetic field, while not affected by the mode of launched wave and the toroidal refractive index. Hard X-ray (HXR) emitted from energetic electrons accelerated by the microwave was observed, and the discharge with a plasma current over 4 kA followed the same trend as the number of photons of 10 keV to 12 keV. This suggests that the plasma current may be driven by energetic electrons. Based on the experimental conditions, alternative explanations of how the plasma current could be driven are discussed.

The 16-element phased-array antenna has been developed for the EBWH/CD experiments. The 2-D k-spectra could be controlled. The heat load and stress were analyzed to be moderate in the 200kW CW operation. The symmetrically 2-D narrow-field distributions were excited by the developed antenna, indicating its good applicability to the EBWH/CD experiments.

The square waveguide phased-array antenna system has been developed for Electron Bernstein Emission diagnostics. The broadband orthomode transducer was prepared to measure the wave polarization. The measured fields were in good agreements with those evaluated from the Kirchhoff integral.

The CW phased-array antenna for the EBWH/CD has been developed in QUEST. The measured fields were in excellent agreement with those evaluated by the Kirchhoff integral. The thermal load and stress were analyzed. The phase array has been fast scanned to control the incident polarization and angle.