Ray Tracing in an Electron Cyclotron Resonance Plasma

Abstract

We present studies of the propagation and absorption of the 2.45 GHz right-hand circularly polarized TE(11) mode using the ray-tracing method in an electron cyclotron resonance device. The magnetic-field configuration is the typical one operating at KAIST, and two different basic radial density profiles are considered, a constant and the Bessel function J(0)-like cases. For a J(0)-like radial density profile, we find that the ray-path behaviors near the edge regions are different from the those previously reported. The ray-paths turn around rather than leave the system. The power-deposition results for the J(0)-like case are broader and less peaked than those for the constant case, and the distance between the regions of power deposition and the ECR resonance is larger for the higher average density. That is, the power is mostly absorbed before reaching the ECR layer and the higher the density is, the earlier most of the power is absorbed before the wave reaches the ECR layer.