Parametric decay of ''kinetic Alfven wave'' and its application to plasma heating

Because of its electrostatic properties, the rate of the parametric growth of the kinetic Alfven wave [Alfven wave with lambdaequivalentk/sub perpendicular/2c/subs/2/ω/subc//subi/2approx.0(1)] is shown to be larger than that of the classic result by a factor of lambdaω/subc//subi//ω/subA/, where ω/subc//subi/ and ω/subA/ are the ion-cyclotron and the Alfven frequencies, k/sub perpendicular/ is the perpendicular wave number, and c/subs/ is the ion sound speed. This fact can be utilized to heat a plasma with typical tokamak parameters