Electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) plasma is produced and studied in a small cylindrical system. Microwave power is delivered by a CW magnetron at 2.45 GHz in TE¹⁰ mode and launched radially to have extraordinary (X) wave in plasma. The axial magnetic field required for ECR in the system is such that the first two ECR surfaces (B = 875.0 G andB = 437.5 G) reside in the system. ECR plasma is produced with hydrogen with typical plasma density n^e as 3.2 × 10¹⁰ cm^-3 and plasma temperature T^e between 9 and 15 eV. Various cut-off and resonance positions are identified in the plasma system. ECR heating (ECRH) of the plasma is observed experimentally. This heating is because of the mode conversion of X-wave to electron Bernstein wave (EBW) at the upper hybrid resonance (UHR) layer. The power mode conversion efficiency is estimated to be 0.85 for this system. The experimental results are presented in this paper.

Electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) plasma breakdown is studied in a small linear cylindrical system with four different gases - hydrogen, helium, argon and nitrogen. Microwave power in the experimental system is delivered by a magnetron at $2.45 \pm 0.02$ GHz in TE₁₀ mode and launched radially to have extra-ordinary (X) wave in plasma. The axial magnetic field required for ECR in the system is such that the fundamental ECR surface ($B = 875.0$ G) resides at the geometrical centre of the plasma system. ECR breakdown parameters such as plasma delay time and plasma decay time from plasma density measurements are carried out at the centre using a Langmuir probe. The operating parameters such as working gas pressure ($1 \times 10^{-5} -1 \times 10^{-2}$ mbar) and input microwave power (160{800 W) are varied and the corresponding effect on the breakdown parameters is studied. The experimental results obtained are presented in this paper.

A 3.7 GHz system, which is meant for LHCD experiments on ADITYA tokamak, is used for producing ECR discharge. The ECR discharge is produced by setting the appropriate resonance magnetic field of 0.13 T, with hydrogen at a fill pressure of about $5 \times 10^{-5}$ Torr. The RF power, up to 10 kW (of which $\sim 50$% is reflected back), with a typical pulse length of 50 ms, is injected into the vacuum chamber of the ADITYA tokamak by a LHCD grill antenna and is used for plasma formation. The average coupled RF power density (the RF power/a typical volume of the plasma) is estimated to be $\sim 5$ kW/m³. When the ECR appears inside the tokamak chamber for the given pumping frequency ($f = 3.7$ GHz) a plasma with a density ($n_{e}$) $\sim 4 \times 10^{16}$ m^-3 and electron temperature $\sim 8$ eV is produced. The density and temperature during the RF pulse are measured by sets of Langmuir probes, located toroidally, on either side of the antenna. $H_{\alpha}$ signals are also monitored to detect ionization. An estimate of density and temperature based on simple theoretical calculation agrees well with our experimental measurements. The plasma produced by the above mechanism is further used to characterize the ECR-assisted low voltage Ohmic start-up discharges. During this part of the experiments, Ohmic plasma is formed using capacitor banks. The plasma loop voltage is gradually decreased, till the discharge ceases to form. The same is repeated in the presence of ECR-formed plasma (RF pre-ionization), formed 10 ms prior to the loop voltage. We have observed that (with LHCD-induced) ECR-assisted Ohmic start-up discharges is reliably and repeatedly obtained with reduced loop voltage requirement and breakdown time decreases substantially. The current ramp-up rates also decrease with reduced loop voltage operation. These studies established that ECR plasma formed with LHCD system exhibits similar characteristics as reported earlier by dedicated ECR systems. This experiment also addresses the issue of whether ECR plasma formed with grill antenna exhibits similar behavior as that formed by single waveguide ECR antenna. Our experimental observations suggest that the characteristics of (LHCD system-induced) ECR-assisted Ohmic start-up discharges show similar properties, reported earlier with normal ECR-assisted Ohmic start-up discharges and hence LHCD system may be used as ECR system at reduced toroidal magnetic field for other applications like wall conditioning.

A magnetized, low-𝛽 plasma in pure toroidal configuration is formed and extensively studied with ion mass as control parameter. Xenon, krypton and argon plasmas are formed at a fixed toroidal magnetic field of 0.024 T, with a peak density of $\sim 10^{11}$ cm^-3, $\sim 4 \times 10^{10}$ cm^-3 and $\sim 2 \times 10^{10}$ cm⁻³ respectively. The experimental investigation of time-averaged plasma parameter reveals that their profiles remain insensitive to ion mass and suggests that saturated slab equilibrium is obtained. Low-frequency (LF) coherent fluctuations ($\omega$ < $\omega_{\text{ci}}$) are observed and identified as flute modes. Here $\omega_{\text{ci}}$ represents ion cyclotron frequency. Our results indicate that these modes get reduced with ion mass. The frequency of the fluctuating mode decreases with increase in the ion mass. Further, an attempt has been made to discuss the theory of flute modes to understand the relevance of some of our experimental observations.