A comparative investigation was conducted to assess the impact of high-field side (HFS) extraordinary (X) mode (HFS X) injection and low-field side (LFS) ordinary (O) mode (LFS O) injection of 8.2 GHz radio frequency (RF) power in the Q-shu University experimental steady-state spherical tokamak. In the case of the HFS X injection, the ratio of electron plasma frequency and RF frequency was 1.3, indicating an overdense plasma, whereas in the LFS O injection, this ratio was 0.9. Distinctive features emerged in the electron temperature and density profiles between the two injection scenarios. In the HFS X injection, the profiles peaked between the fundamental electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) layer and the upper hybrid resonance layer. Conversely, in the LFS O injection, the peaks were situated near the 1st ECR layer. This implies effective excitation of the electron Bernstein wave (EBW) in the case of the HFS X injection, with the wave power being absorbed through the doppler-shifted ECR of the EBW. Density and temperature oscillations were observed only in the start-up phase of the HFS X injection, which may correlate with the presence of the left-hand cutoff of the X-mode. These findings will be contributed to understand the distinctive characteristics associated with plasma heating through EBW excitation in the HFS X injection.
This paper investigates the heating characteristics of electron Bernstein waves (EBWs) using high-field side X-mode injection in a spherical tokamak. The study found that HFS X-mode injection effectively excites EBWs, leading to peaked electron temperature and density profiles between the fundamental electron cyclotron resonance and upper hybrid resonance layers. This provides insights into plasma heating through EBW excitation.