Comparison of Travelling Wave Array and Classical ICRH Launchers: Spectral and Absorption Characteristics on WEST

Ion Cyclotron Resonance Heating (ICRH) plays a central role in plasma heating and current drive in tokamaks, making the optimization of antenna systems essential for maximizing performance. In this context, a comparative analysis of classical and Travelling Wave Array (TWA) launchers is carried out to assess potential improvements in absorption efficiency and spatial localization of deposited power. Simulations using the EVE code focus on Hydrogen minority heating in a Deuterium plasma under a magnetic field of 3.657 T in WEST. The results show that Hydrogen absorbs the most power for parallel wavenumbers k∥max between 8 and 10 rad/m. Peak absorption occurs near the plasma core at 55.5 MHz with a poloidal phasing angle of 45◦ between rows. Moreover, changing the sign of the TWA’s toroidal spectrum i.e., launching waves in the opposite toroidal direction has a small impact on power absorption by Hydrogen.