Mitigation of ELMs by Electrostatic Field in Tokamaks

Mitigation of ELMs by electrostatic field is studied. The perpendicular heating in cyclotron waves tends to pile up the resonant particles toward the low magnetic field side in which a electrostatic field may result [J. Y. Hsu, V. S. Chan, R. W. Harvey, R. Prater, and S. K. Wong, Phys. Rev. Lett. 53, 564 (1984)]. The electrostatic field can make circulating particles trapped or make trapped particles circulating depending on the field direction. The trapped- particle population and bootstrap current change accordantly. Modulating bootstrap current, mitigation of type-1 ELM by the electrostatic field is possible. The electrostatic potential needed for the mitigation is quantitatively estimated. Experiments by either ECRH or biasing are being prepared to verify the theory.