Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 March 2009
MHD theory with the Hall term has been used to analyse the Alfvén resonance heating of cylindrical plasmas using axisymmetric waves excited by an antenna. An analytic expression for the antenna impedance has been derived for a simple plasma model and this is used to help interpret the computational results for small, medium and large plasmas. Compressional wave eigenmodes give large antenna resistances; however, the energy is deposited near the plasma surface. At a frequency just above each eigenfrequency, the Alfvén resonance damping is zero. Below the first eigenfrequency, the energy can be deposited near the plasma centre; however, the antenna resistance is fairly low except for medium size plasmas with a nearly constant central density. Ion cyclotron wave resonances are briefly discussed. Some general concepts relevant to the penetration of wave energy into large plasmas are presented.