The performance of a tokamak plasma largely depends on to the level of turbulent transport. Trapped electron modes are one of the main instabilities responsible for turbulence in tokamaks. On the other hand, electron cyclotron resonance heating is a generic heating system for tokamaks. Both physical processes rely on resonant interactions with electrons. Non-linear interaction between the resonant processes is theoretically possible. This thesis aims to evaluate the possibility of exploiting this non-linear interaction to stabilize the trapped electron modes instability within tokamak plasmas, using a heating source present on many tokamaks, including ITER. This control technique could improve the performance of certain tokamaks without any extra cost.
The thesis will be based on a theoretical understanding of the two processes studied, will require the use of the gyrokinetic code GYSELA to model the non-linear interactions between resonant processes, and will include an experimental aspect to validate the identified turbulence control mechanism.