Low-threshold parametric decay of the ordinary wave in ECRH experiments at toroidal devices

In this paper we analyse low-threshold parametric decay instability (PDI) of the ordinary wave in first harmonic O-mode ECRH experiments at toroidal devices. The corresponding expressions for the PDI power threshold and its growth rate are derived analytically and evaluated numerically for the conditions of the ECRH experiments on the W7-A stellarator. The possibility of low-threshold parametric decay of the pump ordinary wave on the FTU tokamak is also considered.