Excitation of the lower-hybrid resonance at the plasma edge by ICRF couplers

A simple model is presented and used to examine the inadvertent excitation of the lower-hybrid resonance by fast wave couplers. Loading resistances due to this effect are found to be of the order of 0.1 Omega for present-generation experiments and increase with the toroidal magnetic field. An upper-bound estimate of 1 keV is obtained for the energy transferred to edge ions by the resonance.<
>