Electron cyclotron heating

Description of capability

EC heating is the first auxiliary heating method in ITER reactor. It involves frequencies of ~100 GHz or more and leverages Gyrotron devices. The frequency required is 28 GHz per Tesla of magnetic field.

Key people

• Miklos Porkolab
• Gregory Wallace

Technology Readiness Level (1-9)

Unknown

Needs that this could potentially address

Unknown

Tech specs

$k_{//}\approx 15-18m^{-1}$

Estimated time & cost to commercialize

Unknown

Outstanding risks

• ARPA-E identified two main challenges for RF technology for fusion:
  • Efficiency of Gyrotron and Klystron devices (currently only 30-40%)
  • Lifetimes. Right now, gyrotrons burn out after a few hours of total use.

References

High-power gyrotrons for electron cyclotron heating and current drive