Modelling of the electron cyclotron emission burst from a laboratory tokamak plasma with loss-cone maser instability
The maser instability associated with the loss-cone distribution has been widely invoked to explain the radio bursts observed in the astrophysical plasma environment, such as aurora and corona. In the laboratory plasma of a tokamak, events reminiscent of these radio bursts have also been frequently observed as an electron cyclotron emission (ECE) burst in the microwave range (~2f ce near the last closed flux surface) during transient magnetohydrodynamic events. These bursts have a short duration of ~10 μs and display a radiation spectrum corresponding to a radiation temperature T e,rad of over 30 keV while the edge thermal electron temperature T e is only in the range of 1 keV. Suprathermal electrons can be generated through magnetic reconnection, and a loss-cone distribution can be generated through open stochastic field lines in the magnetic mirror of the near-edge region of a tokamak plasma. Radiation modelling shows that a sharp distribution gradient ∂f/∂v ⊥ > 0 at the loss-cone boundary can cause a negative absorption of ECE radiation through the maser instability. The negative absorption then amplifies the radiation so that the microwave intensity is significantly stronger than the thermal value. The significant T e,rad from the simulations suggests the potential role of the loss-cone maser instability in generating the ECE burst in a tokamak.