Effects of trapped electrons on off-axis lower hybrid current drive in tokamaks

The effects of trapped electrons on off-axis lower hybrid current drive (LHCD) in tokamaks are studied, A computer code for solving the Fokker–Planck equation in a toroidal geometry is developed and employed. The code is suitable for various auxiliary heating and current drive schemes in tokamak plasmas. The influence of the resonance regime on the current drive efficiency as well as the influence of trapped particle fraction on the current drive efficiency are emphasized. It is shown that, as an electrostatic force, the lower hybrid wave causes some of the trapped electrons to be untrapped and lose their energy, which can cut the LHCD efficiency by about 30%. The ITER scaling law is also used to estimate the trapped electron effects.