High Density Plasma Heating by EC-Waves Injected from the High-Field Side for Mode Conversion to Electron Bernstein Waves in LHD

To realize an excitation of electron Bernstein waves (EBW) via mode conversion from X-mode waves injected from the high magnetic field side (HFS), new inner-vessel mirrors were installed close to a helical coil in the large helical device (LHD). 77 GHz electron cyclotron (EC) wave beams injected from an existing EC-wave injection system toward the new mirror are rejected on the mirror so that the beams are injected to plasmas from HFS. Evident increases in the electron temperature at the plasma core region and the plasma stored energy were observed by the HFS beam injection to the plasmas with the line-average electron density of 7.5x10¹⁹ m^-3, which is slightly higher than the plasma cut-off density of 77 GHz EC-waves, 7.35x10¹⁹ m^-3. The heating efficiency evaluated from the changes in the time derivative of the plasma stored energy reached ~70%. Although so far it is not clear which is the main cause of the heating effect, the mode-converted EBW or the X-mode wave itself injected from the HFS, an e®ective heating of high-density plasma over the plasma cut-o® of EC-wave was successfully demonstrated.