Coupling of ICRF waves and axial transport of high-energy ions owing to spontaneously excited waves in the GAMMA 10 tandem mirror

Plasmas with high ion temperature of several kiloelectronvolts and a strong temperature anisotropy of greater than 10 were produced by ion cyclotron range of frequency (ICRF) heating in the GAMMA 10 tandem mirror. In such high-performance plasmas with strong anisotropy, high-frequency fluctuations, so-called Alfvén-ion-cyclotron (AIC) waves, are excited spontaneously. These AIC waves have several discrete peaks in the frequency spectrum. Coupling of the ICRF heating waves and the excited AIC waves was clearly observed in the density fluctuations measured with a newly developed reflectometer. Parametric decay from the heating ICRF waves to the AIC waves and low-frequency waves was also indicated. Alfvén waves with difference frequencies between the discrete peaks of the AIC waves were detected in a signal that measured the number of axially transported high-energy ions (over 6 keV) at the machine end, indicating pitch-angle scattering caused by the low-frequency waves. Energy transport along the magnetic field line is an important consideration when ICRF power is injected in the perpendicular direction to a magnetic field line. The importance of the spontaneously excited AIC waves for axial confinement of a tandem mirror through wave-wave couplings was demonstrated.