Antenna coupling study for ICWC plasma characterization in TEXTOR

Ion cyclotron wall conditioning (ICWC) discharges, in pulsed-mode operation, were carried out in the limiter tokamak TEXTOR to explore safe operational regimes for the experimental parameters for possible ICWC-discharge cleaning in International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) at half field. Antenna coupling properties obtained during the ion cyclotron range of frequencies (ICRF) wall conditioning experiments performed in helium-hydrogen mixture in TEXTOR were analysed in relation to the obtained ICWC-plasma characterization results. Satisfactory antenna coupling in the mode conversion scenario along with reproducible generation of ICRF plasmas for wall conditioning, were achieved by coupling radio frequency (RF) power from one or two ICRF antennas. The plasma breakdown results obtained in the TEXTOR tokamak have been compared with the predictions of a zero-dimensional RF plasma production model. The present study of ICWC emphasizes the beneficial effect of application of an additional (along with toroidal magnetic field) stationary vertical (B_V ≪ B_T) or oscillating poloidal magnetic field (B_P ≪ B_T) on antenna coupling and relevant plasma parameters.