Implementation of LHCD Experiments on Alcator C-Mod

An antenna‐transmitter system for driving current in the LHRF has been installed in Alcator C‐Mod. The antenna is a grill consisting of 4 poloidal rows of waveguides, each with 24 guides in the toroidal direction. Power is supplied by 12 klystrons capable of 250 kW operation at a frequency of 4.6 GHz. Thus the total source power is 3 MW, with about 1.5 MW available to be coupled to the plasma. Power supply and heat throughput limits in C‐Mod limit the pulse length to 5 s, which however represents several current redistribution times. With 90° phasing, the n∥ spectrum is sharply peaked at 2.3 and the range 1.5 < n∥ < 3.5 can be accessed dynamically by varying the phase of the klystrons. The system is in the commissioning phase with klystron power limited to ∼20 kW and pulse length to 10 ms. Early results from plasma operation are discussed.