Analysis of electron cyclotron emission by lower-hybrid current drive plasmas

Summary Electron cyclotron emission may be used for diagnosing non-thermal electron distribution functions generated by radio-frequency current drive. Our attention is concentrated in theX-mode-downshifted second-harmonic range of frequencies, by inspecting at the radiation collected in the horizontal low-magnetic-field side of a tokamak. The cut-off presence eliminates the thermal first-harmonic emission and the non-thermal one may be observed without other inference. The electron distribution function is modelled by a suitable sum of drifting Maxwellians for reproducing the flat tails usually obtained in the presence of lower-hybrid power injection. This model is time saving as far as the computer simulations are concerned and permits a lot of runs in order to accomplish a wide parameters exploitation. A sensitivity analysis of ECE intensity is performed with respect to the main moments of the suprathermal electrons distribution function. The analysis shown that the radiation spectra are very sensitive to the perpendicular energy and to the number of fast electrons, while only a weak dependence on the parallel energy is found.