A comparison of the ASDEX Upgrade 3-strap ICRF antenna data with the linear electromagnetic TOPICA calculations is presented. The comparison substantiates a reduction of the local electric field at the radially protruding plasma-facing elements of the antenna as a relevant approach for minimizing tungsten (W) sputtering in conditions when the slow wave is strongly evanescent. The measured reaction of the time-averaged RF current at the antenna limiters to the antenna feeding variations is less sensitive than predicted by the calculations. This is likely to have been caused by temporal and spatial fluctuations in the 3D plasma density distribution affected by local non-linear interactions. The 3-strap antenna with the W-coated limiters produces drastically less W sputtering compared to the W-coated 2-strap antennas. This is consistent with the non-linear asymptotic SSWICH-SW calculations for RF sheaths.

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A new multichannel frequency modulated continuous-wave reflectometry diagnostic has been successfully installed and commissioned on ASDEX Upgrade to measure the plasma edge electron density profile evolution in front of the Ion Cyclotron Range of Frequencies (ICRF) antenna. The design of the new three-strap ICRF antenna integrates ten pairs (sending and receiving) of microwave reflectometry antennas. The multichannel reflectometer can use three of these to measure the edge electron density profiles up to 2 x 10(19) m(-3), at different poloidal locations, allowing the direct study of the local plasma layers in front of the ICRF antenna. ICRF power coupling, operational effects, and poloidal variations of the plasma density profile can be consistently studied for the first time. In this work the diagnostic hardware architecture is described and the obtained density profile measurements were used to track outer radial plasma position and plasma shape

Plasma heating with waves in the Ion Cyclotron Range of Frequency (ICRF) affects the edge plasma and the edge plasma affects the ICRF heating. In simulations, these nonlinear ICRF-edge plasma interactions have been self-consistently simulated by running the EMC3-EIRENE, RAPLICASOL and SSWICH codes in an iterative way on ASDEX Upgrade for the first time. In experiments, the edge plasma convection induced by powered 3-strap antennas is measured with the antenna embedded reflectometers for the first time. Both the simulation and experimental results indicate that the ICRF induced convective cells are most significant on the top and bottom of the antennas; the edge plasma convection induced by 3-strap antennas in optimized antenna feeding configuration (dipole phasing, power ratio between the center and outer straps ~1.5) is smallest among the studied cases. The simulation results also suggest that compared to the 2-strap antennas, the 3-strap antennas can significantly reduce the plasma convection associated with the radio-frequency sheaths, even with unfavorable power balance between the straps in dipole phasing.