A Novel Approach to Ion Cyclotron Antennas for Nuclear Fusion Experiments

In nuclear fusion experiments, one of the most assessed methods for heating plasma is via transfer of electromagnetic energy in the Ion Cyclotron Resonance Frequency (ICRF) range. However, space constraints for the plasma-facing antennas result in poor impedance matching and high electric fields; for these reasons current antennas cannot efficiently couple high power to the plasma and require complex matching circuits. This preliminary study presents a new perspective on designing tunable resonant antennas, based on quarter-wavelength resonances.