Ro. Dendy et al., THE EXCITATION OF OBLIQUELY PROPAGATING FAST ALFVEN WAVES AT FUSION ION-CYCLOTRON HARMONICS, Physics of plasmas, 1(6), 1994, pp. 1918-1928
The theory of the magnetoacoustic cyclotron instability, which has bee
n proposed as a mechanism for suprathermal ion cyclotron harmonic emis
sion observed in large tokamaks, is generalized to include finite para
llel wave number k(parallel-to). This extension introduces significant
new physics: the obliquely propagating fast Alfven wave can undergo c
yclotron resonant interactions with thermal and fusion ions, which aff
ects the instability driving and damping mechanisms. The velocity-spac
e distribution of the fusion ions is modeled by a drifting ring, which
approximates the distribution calculated for the emitting region in t
ritium experiments on the Joint European Torus (JET) [Cottrell et al.,
Nucl. Fusion 33, 1365 (1993)]. Linear instability can occur simultane
ously at the fusion ion cyclotron frequency and all its harmonics when
the fusion ion concentration is extremely low, because the finite k(p
arallel-to) gives rise to a Doppler shift, which decouples cyclotron d
amping due to thermal ions from wave growth associated with fusion ion
s. Doppler shifts associated with finite k(parallel-to) may also be re
lated to the observed splitting of harmonic emission lines.