3-DIMENSIONAL TRANSMISSION OF THE FAST WAVE IN ION-CYCLOTRON RESONANCE PLASMA-HEATING

The transmission of the fast Alfvén wave in second harmonic ion cyclotron resonance heating of a deuterium-hydrogen (minority) plasma is analyzed in a general three-dimensional magnetogeometry. The approach is based on the congruent reduction of the Hermitian, anisotropic pressure fluid plasma model. The unreduced, 17th-order, slow-amplitude transport equation, characterizing the problem of interest, is systematically reduced to the fourth-order irreducible transport system describing the coupling of the fast wave to the resonant components of the anisotropic pressure plasma model. This system yields a compact expression for the fast wave transmission coefficient in a general geometry and arbitrary direction of propagation of the incident wave. © 1990 American Institute of Physics.