Electromagnetic Wave Simulation in Fusion Plasmas

O. Meneghini[1], and S. Shiraiwa[1]
[1]Plasma Science and Fusion Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Published in 2009

COMSOL has been used to model the propagation of electromagnetic waves in fusion plasmas. For the first time, a finite element method has been used to solve the wave propagation for realistic fusion plasma parameters in the lower hybrid and ion cyclotron frequency ranges. Moreover, for lower hybrid waves, a new efficient iterative algorithm has been developed to take into account the dispersive effects of a hot plasma. The advantages of the finite element method approach include a significant reduction of computational requirements compared to full wave spectral methods and a more accurate description of the antenna geometry, while seamlessly handling the plasma region.

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