Singularities of the cold plasma theory: Modeling challenges for ICRF operation in low-density edge plasma

Abstract

Sustained ICRF operation in a fusion power plant may require low edge densities to mitigate plasma-wall interactions, a regime which was recently achieved in WEST with very little impurity sputtering. Cold plasma theory, however, predicts singular radiofrequency electric fields in this regime, both at the lower hybrid resonance and along the resonance cones, raising the question of whether standard collisional cold plasma models suffice to describe low-density edge ICRF at all. Collisions in principle remove these singularities, replacing them with finite but sharply peaked fields. We derive these peak length scales analytically and confirm them with a 2D finite-element simulation using exponential mesh refinement, achieving micrometer resolution where needed. We conclude that edge collisions in cold plasma do not remove the need to resolve length scales ordinarily associated with hot-plasma and Bernstein-wave physics.