Dean A. Buchenauer

Divertor heat flux reduction by D2 injection in DIII-D

D{sub 2} gas injected into ELMing H-mode discharges in DIII-D reduced total integrated heat flux to the divertor by {approximately}2{times} and peak heat flux by {approximately}5{times}, with only modest degradation to plasma stored energy. Steady gas injection without particle pumping results in eventual degradation in stored energy. The initial reduction in peak heat flux at the divertor tiles may be primarily due to the increase in radiated power from the X-point/divertor region. The eventual formation of a high density region near the X-point appears to play a role in momentum (and energy) transfer from the flux surfaces near the outboard strike point to flux surfaces farther out into the scrapeoff. This may also contribute to further reduction in peak heat flux.

Divertor materials evaluation system at DIII-D

The DIvertor Material Evaluation System (DIMES) at DIII-D is a collaborative program between General Atomics, Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), and Argonne National Laboratory (ANL). This program was initiated in response to the need for understanding the interaction between the plasma and divertor surface materials in tokamaks. Material erosion, tritium retention, disruption effects and material transport are very important topics for the design of ITER. The first phase of the DIMES study is integral material exposure measurements. The second phase of the study is the installation of the DIMES sample changer mechanism. The mechanical design goal for the second phase is to allow the insertion of instrumented samples into the bottom divertor plat region of DIII-D without venting the tokamak. Different material samples can then be exchanged overnight after as few as one plasma shot of exposure. This paper presents the results of the integral experiments, the design of the DIMES sample changer mechanism and the planning of material evaluation experiments at DIII-D using the DIMES mechanism.

Reciprocating and fixed probe measurements of density and temperature in the DIII-D divertor

Abstract This paper describes divertor density and temperature measurements using both a new reciprocating Langmuir probe (XPT-RCP) which plunges vertically above the divertor floor up to the X-point height and swept, single, Langmuir probes fixed horizontally across the divertor floor. These types of measurements are important for testing models of the SOL and divertor which then are used to determine engineering design criteria for plasma facing components in reactor size tokamaks. The 6 mm diameter fixed single probes (19 domed and 2 flat at radially equivalent locations) are incorporated into the lower divertor floor at 19 radial locations and swept at 250 Hz. These probes are critical for determining plasma detachment from the floor during operation with high density, highly radiating divertors. By sweeping the divertor strike point across the fixed probes, different regions of the target plate incident flux profile can be sampled and a high resolution spatial profile can be obtained from each probe tip as the strike point moves past. The X-point reciprocating probe (XPT-RCP) provides ne and Te profiles with high spatial (2 mm) and temporal (0.5 ms) resolution from the target plate to the X-point along a single vertical chord at the same radial location as a fixed probe tip at a different azimuthal location. The probe ne and Te are compared to the divertor Thomson scattering (DTS) ne and Te (eight vertical points at 20 Hz, RThomson = RX-point-rcp). Recent observations have also shown divertor densities from 3 × 1019 to 4 × 1020 m−3 near the target plate with the highest densities observed with D2 gas puffing. Electron temperature is typically of the order of 15–25 eV at the target rising to about 70 eV near the X-point. Lower temperature, higher density plasmas are observed along the inner leg. Generally good agreement among the XPT-RCP, the fixed floor probes, and the DTS is observed. Differences between these diagnostic measurements will also be discussed with respect to different operating regimes and conditions.

Erosion and deposition of metals and carbon in the DIII-D divertor

Net erosion rates at the outer strike point of the DIII-D divertor plasma were measured for several materials during quiescent H-mode operation with deuterium plasmas. Materials examined include graphite, beryllium, tungsten, vanadium and molybdenum. For graphite, net erosion rates up to 4 nm/sec were found. Erosion rates for the metals were much smaller than for carbon. Ion fluxes from Langmuir probe measurements were used to predict gross erosion by sputtering. Measured net erosion was much smaller than predicted gross erosion. Transport of metal atoms by the plasma across the divertor surface was also examined. Light atoms were transported farther than heavy atoms as predicted by impurity transport models.

Characterization of deposition and erosion of the TFTR bumper limiter and wall

Abstract To understand material transport by the plasma in the TFTR tokamak, graphite bumper limiter tiles and metal surfaces have been studied. Detailed measurements of the TFTR inner bumper limiter POCO ™ AXF-5Q graphite tiles indicate areas of net erosion and areas of net deposition. These areas are poloidally asymmetric and on the scale of a bay (l/20th of the torus) repeat regularly toroidally. Finer scale measurements indicate that there are subtle variations in the interaction of the plasma with the wall. Furthermore, a study of the correlation of limiter deposits with the type of discharges in TFTR indicates that the material composition depth distribution was determined by the tokamak operational history. In particular, the relative amounts of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and metal in the deposits changed over time, reflecting plasma impurity levels. The outer wall of the vessel was not exposed to direct plasma flux and does not show evidence of erosion.

Measurements of carbon and tungsten erosion/deposition in the DIII-D divertor

Abstract Net erosion/deposition rates of carbon and tungsten were measured at the outer strike point of the divertor plasma on the floor of the DIII-D tokamak during deuterium H-mode operation at an average power deposition of about 45 W/cm 2 . For carbon, net erosion rates of up to 4 nm/s were found. For a tungsten film, no appreciable erosion was detected. However, measurements of deposited tungsten on adjacent carbon surfaces indicated a net W erosion rate of 0.06 nm/s.

Langmuir probe array for the DIII‐D divertor

Two prototype Langmuir probes (based on a JET design) have been installed near the outer strike point on the divertor floor in the DIII‐D tokamak. Results from these graphite probes were used to design a full array of Langmuir probes for the DIII‐D divertor and an additional set of probes for the bias ring of the Advanced Divertor program. The design allows for the projected area of the probes to be relatively insensitive to the magnetic field angle in the divertor region, while projecting the intercepted heat flux over a much larger area. The prototype probes have survived the full separatrix plasma flux during both L‐ and H‐mode operation. I/V characteristics during high power neutral beam operation exhibit electron temperatures approaching 50 eV and large negative floating potentials near the outer separatrix strike point. Edge localized modes cause an increase in the ion flux as large as a factor of 10 above the H‐mode level. As a result, a new set of faster, higher voltage electronics will be used fo...

Plasma diagnostics for the sustained spheromak physics experiment

In this article we present an overview of the plasma diagnostics operating or planned for the sustained spheromak physics experiment device now operating at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. A set of 46 wall-mounted magnetic probes provide the essential data necessary for magnetic reconstruction of the Taylor relaxed state. Rogowski coils measure currents induced in the flux conserver. A CO2 laser interferometer is used to measure electron line density. Spectroscopic measurements include an absolutely-calibrated spectrometer recording extended domain spectrometer for obtaining time-integrated visible ultraviolet spectra and two time-resolved vacuum monochrometers for studying the time evolution of two separate emission lines. Another time-integrated spectrometer records spectra in the visible range. Filtered silicon photodiode bolometers provide total power measurements, and a 16 channel photodiode spatial array gives radial emission profiles. Two-dimensional imaging of the plasma and helicity injec...

Investigation of electron parallel pressure balance in the scrape-off layer of deuterium-based radiative divertor discharges IN DIII-D

Abstract Electron density, temperature and parallel pressure measurements at several locations along field lines connecting the midplane scrapeoff layer (SOL) with the outer divertor are presented for both attached and partially-detached divertor cases: Ip = 1.4 MA, q95 = 4.2 and Pinput ∼ 6.7 MW under ELMing H-mode conditions. At the onset of the Partially Detached Divertor (PDD), a high density, low temperature plasma forms in the divertor SOL (divertor MARFE). The electron pressure drops by a factor of 2 between the midplane separatrix and the X-point and then an additional ∼ 3–5 times between the X-point and the outboard separatrix strike point. These results are in contrast to the attached (non-PDD) case, where electron pressure in the SOL is reduced by, at most, a factor of two between the midplane and the divertor target. Divertor MARFEs generally have only marginal adverse impact on important H-mode characteristics, such as confinement time. In fact, PDD discharges at low input power (i.e., approximately twice the L-H-mode threshold power) maintain good H-mode characteristics until a high density, low temperature plasma abruptly forms inside the separatrix near the X-point (X-point MARFE). Concurrent with the appearance of this X-point MARFE is a degradation in both energy confinement and the plasma fueling rate and an increase in the carbon impurity concentration inside the core plasma. The formation of the X-point MARFE is consistent with a thermal instability resulting from the temperature dependence of the carbon radiative cooling rate in the range ∼ 7–30 eV.

The effect of ELMs on edge plasma scaling in DIII-D

In this paper we report results of scaling studies aimed at determining how the divertor conditions vary with plasma current, toroidal field, and neutral beam heating power in H-mode discharges with ELMs in the DIII-D tokamak. We find that ELMs produce relatively more direct particle losses (50% or more of the total) than energy losses (≤20%). The time-average peak divertor heat flux in these plasmas is found to scale as d α ( P NBI I p )( B p,mp / B p,div ). The linear power dependence suggests that the plasma sheath at the targets is primarily responsible for limiting the parallel energy flow, while the I p variation may mean that the radial energy transport in the SOL decreases with increasing plasma current, just as it does in the core.