Development of a high power Helicon system for DIII-D

A mechanism for driving current off-axis in high beta tokamaks using fast electromagnetic waves, called Helicons, will be experimentally tested in the DIII-D tokamak. This method is calculated to be more efficient than current drive using electron cyclotron waves or neutral beam injection, and it may be well suited to reactor-like configurations [1,2]. A low power (100 W) 476 MHz “combline” antenna, consisting of 12 inductively coupled, electrostatically shielded, modular resonators [3], was recently installed in DIII-D. Initial operation showed that the plasma operating conditions were achieved under which helicon waves can be launched. Plasma operations also showed that the location of the antenna has not reduced the performance of, or introduced excessive impurities into, the discharges produced in DIII-D. The development of a high power (1 MW) Helicon system is underway. This antenna consists of 30 modules mounted on the inside of the outer wall of the vacuum vessel slightly above the midplane. Carbon tiles around the antenna protect the antenna from thermal plasma streaming along field lines. A 1.2 MW, 476 MHz klystron system will be transferred from the Stanford Linear Accelerator to DIII-D to provide the RF input power to the antenna. A description of the design and fabrication of high power antenna and the RF feeds, the klystron and RF distribution systems, and their installation will be presented.