Core-localized ECRH-induced degradation of ion heat confinement in the HL-3 tokamak

Abstract Core-localized electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) often raises the electron temperature, whereas the ion temperature may remain unchanged or even decrease. We investigate this ion-channel response in deuterium L-mode plasmas on the HL-3 tokamak using kinetic profiles, interpretive power-balance analysis, and local turbulence modeling. Three states are compared: #11843 at 425 ms (NBI-only, pre-ECRH), #11843 at 600 ms (NBI+ECRH), and #11844 at 600 ms (NBI-only reference). After E