Experimental and numerical investigations of electron transport enhancement by electron-cyclotron plasma-wave interaction in tokamaks

Energy transfer from electron-cyclotron (EC) waves to the plasma is being routinely used in tokamaks to heat and drive current through the electron channel. Technical applications such as magnetohydrodynamic mode mitigation require power deposition with a high degree of localization. However, observations made in tokamaks show a broader distribution of suprathermal electrons than predicted by standard drift-kinetic codes. The present paper explores a possible wave-induced increase of electron turbulent transport that may explain the experimental data, using power-modulated EC waves in the Tokamak a Configuration Variable (TCV). In particular, an indirect measurement of the suprathermal electron population via hard x-rays exhibits an enhanced radial transport with increased wave power. This correlates well with the measured increase of the density fluctuation level during the power pulses, associated with the destabilization of ion temperature gradient modes and trapped electron modes and with stiff electron profiles. Forward bounce-averaged drift-kinetic simulations show that a radial diffusion model directly proportional to the wave power deposition is required to match the experimental data. The power dependency is confirmed by global flux-driven gyro-kinetic simulations using a realistic EC power source, computing turbulent transport from first principles and showing a radial increase of electron transport with increased wave power.