Effects of counter-current driven by electron cyclotron waves on neoclassical tearing mode suppression

Abstract

Through theoretical analysis, we construct a physical model that includes the influence of counter-external driven current opposite to the plasma current direction in the neoclassical tearing mode (NTM). The equation is used with this model to obtain the modified Rutherford equation with co-current and counter-current contributions. Consistent with the reported experimental results, numerical simulations have shown that the localized counter external current can only partially suppress NTM when it is far from the resonant magnetic surface. Under some circumstances, the Ohkawa mechanism dominated current drive (OKCD) by electron cyclotron waves can concurrently create both co-current and counter-current. In this instance, the minimal electron cyclotron wave power that suppresses a particular NTM was calculated by the Rutherford equation. The result is marginally less than when taking co-current alone into consideration. As a result, to suppress NTM using OKCD, one only needs to align the co-current with a greater OKCD peak well with the resonant magnetic surface. The effect of its lower counter-current does not need to be considered because the location of the counter-current deviates greatly from the resonant magnetic surface.