Effects of magnetic shear on electron cyclotron resonance heating in heliotron/torsatron configurations

Effects of magnetic sheer on electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) are studied in heliotron/torsatron configurations. In such configurations, the poloidal magnetic field is comparable to the toroidal magnetic field, and varies spatially along the minor radius, making a strong magnetic shear. When high power millimeter waves are launched into a plasma, it is coupled to propagating modes at the plasma peripheral region. The existence of a transition layer between the core plasma region and the vacuum region, where the magnetic field direction is largely changed, requires accurate polarization control for good single pass absorption. The mode conversion between the propagation modes due to the magnetic shear also affects the launching conditions. The polarization control experiment by using second harmonic ECRH in Heliotron E [T. Obiki, Fusion Technol. 17, 101 (1990)] are compared with the numerical calculation in which one dimensional second order coupled equations are solved. The polarization dependence experimentally measured is in good agreement with the numerical results including the magnetic shear terms. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S1070-664X(99)03401-1].