High power density electron cyclotron experiments in the L-2M stellarator

The results of electron cyclotron heating (ECH) experiments in the L-2M stellarator are presented. The main goal of the experiments is to investigate the physics of ECH and of plasma confinement at high values of the volume heating power density. A current free plasma is produced and heated by extraordinary waves at the second harmonic of the electron cyclotron frequency (omega(0)=2 omega(ce)). The experimental results are compared with the empirical LHD scaling and with numerical simulations of plasma confinement and heating processes based on neoclassical theory using the full matrix of transport coefficients, including some additional anomalous corrections.