Design and development of the actively cooled ion cyclotron travelling wave array system for WEST

This paper presents the preliminary design of the Ion Cyclotron Range of Frequency (ICRF) Travelling Wave Array (TWA) system for the WEST facility. The TWA system aims to address the limitations of current ICRF launchers, focusing on improved coupling, reduced voltages and RF sheaths and enhanced reliability. The project is staged in two phases: first, a direct feeding scheme will be used, and later a resonant ring feeding circuit will be installed. This paper outlines the main milestones, plasma scenarios, RF design and mechanical challenges along with the experimental program planned for the WEST TWA system.