Theory of current drive in plasmas

The continuous operation of a tokamak fusion reactor requires, among other things, a means of providing continuously the toroidal current. Such operation is preferred to the conventional pulsed operation, where the plasma current is induced by a time-varying magnetic field. A variety of methods have been proposed to provide continuous current, including methods that utilize particle beams or radio-frequency waves in any of several frequency regimes. Currents as large as half a mega-amp have now been produced in the laboratory by such means, and experimentation in these techniques has now involved major tokamak facilities worldwide.