Preliminary results of top launch third harmonic X-mode electron cyclotron heating in the TCV tokamak

The electron cyclotron heating (ECH) system in TCV has recently been upgraded to a total of 4.5 MW of installed power. In order to extend the density range of ECH-heated plasmas up to electron densities of 1.2 × 10 20 m −3 , three 0.5 MW gyrotrons at a frequency of 118 GHz have been added to the existing 3 MW second harmonic system operating at a frequency of 82.7 GHz. The launcher consists of a mirror placed at the top of the vessel that collects the power of the three microwave sources and can be steered radially and poloidally to ensure maximum flexibility. The choice of the top launch scheme results as a compromise between heating of high-density plasmas and maximization of single-pass absorption in Ohmically heated target plasmas. In this launching configuration, the high sensitivity of single-pass absorption to launching geometry has been experimentally demonstrated. A comparison between the experimental results and the linear ray-tracing/absorption code TORAY-GA shows a good agreement for densities up to 6.0 × 10 19 m −3 .