Intense lower-hybrid wave penetration and current drive in reactor-grade plasmas

Applying lower-hybrid power in short, intense pulses can overcome Landau damping, allowing penetration into the core of reactor-grade plasmas. A theoretical description of the absorption and parametric stability of the pulses is presented and results of ray-tracing calculations are shown which include the absorption calculation. Consideration of the absorption and potential source availability leads to the consideration of 5-10 GW peak power, 30-100 μs pulses for ITER, and ∼2 MW, 20 μs pulses for a proof-of-principle experiment in the Microwave Tokamak Experiment (MTX). (author). 8 refs, 2 figs