Numerical study of the synergetic current drive by lower hybrid waves and loop voltage

Thanks to the tail of fast electrons generated by the lower hybrid (LH) waves, the plasma conductivity changes significantly with respect to the ohmic heating status (Fisch 1985 Phys. Fluids28 245). In this paper, the synergy effects of lower hybrid current drive (LHCD) in the presence of a DC electric field (namely, the loop voltage Vloop ≠ 0) on the EAST tokamak are studied numerically using the ray tracing and Fokker–Planck tools of C3PO/LUKE. In addition to the normal case of a positive loop voltage with an asymmetric power spectrum (namely, co-current LHCD), the synergy effects of negative loop voltage with an asymmetric power spectrum (namely, counter LHCD), and positive/negative loop voltage with a symmetric power spectrum are also investigated, which are previously rarely reported. It is found that the total plasma conductivity can be increased by a factor of 1.68–2.18 (depending on the value of Vloop) when a 1.1 MW LH power at 2.45 GHz with a symmetric power spectrum is injected. Furthermore, unlike the asymmetric power spectrum, the direction of the sum of the pure LH current (Ilh0) and the synergetic current (Iad) resulting from the variation in plasma conductivity is always in line with the ohmic current (Ioh) for a symmetric power spectrum, which is favorable for AC tokamak operation. These simulated results are helpful for LHCD applications, especially in current ramp-up and AC operation.