Energy deposition profile of shear Alfven wave heating

The energy deposition profile of the shear Alfven wave in a cylindrical Tokamak is obtained. The radial propagation and the absorption are solved by use of the kinetic equations for collisionless inhomogeneous plasmas. The absorption is mainly by electron Landau damping, and occurs not only at the resonance surface, k/sub ///(r)v_A(r)= omega , but also in the propagation region, mod r/sub ///(r) mod V_A(r)>or approximately= omega <or approximately= mod k/sub ///(r) mod v_e(r) (V _A:Alfven velocity, v_e:electron thermal velocity, k/sub ///:parallel wave number and omega :frequency). The parameter dependence is studied and the magnetic shear and plasma profiles have important roles for the deposition profile. Efficient heating is possible if the condition k/sub ///V_A approximately= omega is widely satisfied in the propagation region. The bulk heating does not always correspond to good antenna coupling, which often causes an unfavourable edge heating. For some typical parameters the energy input W approximately 1 W cm^-3 is expected when the wave amplitude B_r is several gauss.