PRODUCTION OF SHEARED FLOW DURING ION-CYCLOTRON RESONANCE HEATING IN TOKAMAK PLASMAS

An approach of producing the poloidal ion rotation by using ion cyclot ron resonance heating (ICRH) is presented in core tokamak plasmas. The mechanism employed here is inducing a poloidal density inhomogeneity by rf cyclotron heating and then destabilizing the anomalous Stringer spin-up. A criterion for destabilization of the poloidal ion rotation in the presence of a rf wave is given, which depends on the ratio of t he characteristic time of inhomogeneous density formation to the ion c ollision time. The numerical results have shown that the poloidal ion rotation can be destabilized in the present ICRH power level. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physicsl.