Full-wave model for the lower hybrid wave electric field vector with synthetic turbulence on Alcator C-Mod

The effects of synthetic turbulence on lower hybrid (LH) wave field magnitude and polarization are studied on Alcator C-Mod. Three synthetic turbulence models are evaluated to assess the impact of filaments, holes, and periodic fluctuations on the LH wave electric fields. For all three cases, the synthetic turbulence can greatly impact the LH wave magnitude and polarization. Back scattering, interference and edge/SOL absorption of the LH wave is observed. This impact is shown to depend on the wavelength and amplitude of the fluctuations. The strongest effect appears for fluctuations at high amplitudes and wavelengths comparable to the LH wavelength. This synthetic turbulence model can be used as inputs into a synthetic diagnostic to calculate the lower hybrid wave field magnitude and direction measured by dynamic Stark effect spectroscopy. It will be shown that fluctuations at these high amplitudes and wavelengths may explain the experimentally measured results. The effect of fluctuations on modifying LH polarization are also shown to be anti-correlated with SOL power losses, similar to recently observed experimental trends on Alcator C-Mod. These SOL losses may have detrimental impact on LHCD efficiency.