THE INTERACTION BETWEEN WAVES IN THE ION-CYCLOTRON RANGE OF FREQUENCIES AND THE PLASMA BOUNDARY

The interaction between the ion cyclotron resonance heating and the plasma edge is a vast and interlinked domain: the edge affects the radio frequency heating and the radio frequency heating affects the edge. This interaction between the radio frequency heating and the edge is-in view of the relation between the edge and overall plasma properties and performance-of utmost importance. The paper gives an overview of the topic, emphasizing basic concepts and recent results. The identification of the sheath rectification mechanism as the main cause for the influence of the RF on the edge, has permitted a better understanding of this domain and significant progress in the avoidance of the effects.