Plasma wave simulation based on versatile FEM solver on Alcator C-mod

The finite element method (FEM) has the potential of simulating plasma waves seamlessly from the core to the vacuum and antenna regions. We explored the possibility of using a versatile FEM solver package, COMSOL, for lower hybrid (LH) wave simulation. Special care was paid to boundary conditions to satisfy toroidal symmetry. The non-trivial issue of introducing hot plasma effects was addressed by an iterative algorithm. These techniques are verified both analytically and numerically. In the lower hybrid (LH) grill antenna coupling problem, the FEM solver successfully reproduced the solution that was obtained analytically. Propagation of LH waves on the Alcator C and Alcator C-MOD plasmas was compared with a ray-tracing code, showing good consistency. The approach based on the FEM is computationally less intensive compared to spectral domain solvers, and more suitable for the simulation of larger device such as ITER.