Investigation of ICRF heating efficiency in plug/barrier cell on GAMMA 10/PDX with a full-wave code

In the west end of GAMMA 10/PDX, the end-loss ion flux is utilized for divertor simulation experiments. It is important for controlling parameters of the end-loss ion flux to investigate the efficiency of ion cyclotron range of frequency (ICRF) heating in the west plug/barrier cell, which is next to the west end region. The ICRF heating experiments in the west plug/barrier cell have been performed. In this study, three-dimensional simulations of the ICRF wave propagation were carried out in the plug/barrier cell for the first time. Two types of antennas, a Double Half Turn (WB-DHT) and a Nagoya Type-III (WB-Type-III) antennas, are evaluated. As the results, it is clarified that the WB-Type-III antenna is more effective for the ion heating than the WB-DHT antenna when the frequency is near the ion cyclotron resonance frequency at the midplane of the plug/barrier cell. An additional experiment with the WB-Type-III antenna which is located near the midplane of the plug/barrier cell has been performed. The improvement of the power absorption has been observed. TheWB-Type-III antenna located near the midplane is more effective for the ion heating. The experimental results are consistent with the simulation of the wave propagation analysis.