[en] Gross erosion from the outer wall is expected to be a major source of impurities for high power fusion devices due to the low redeposition fraction. Scaling studies of sputtering from the all-carbon outer wall of NSTX are reported. It is found that wall erosion decreases with divertor plasma pressure in low/mid temperature regimes, due to increasing divertor neutral opacity. Wall erosion is found to consistently decrease with reduced recycling coefficient, with outer target recycling providing the largest contribution. Upper and lower bounds are calculated for the increase in wall erosion due to a low-field-side gas puff

[en] Liquid metal plasma facing components (PFCs) have been identified as an alternative material for fusion plasma experiments. The use of a liquid conductor where significant magnetic fields are present is considered risky, with the possibility of macroscopic fluid motion and possible ejection into the plasma core. Analysis is carried out on thermoelectric magnetohydrodynamic (TEMHD) forces caused by temperature gradients in the liquid-container system itself in addition to scrape-off-layer currents interacting with the PFC from a diverted plasma. Capillary effects at the liquid-container interface will be examined which govern droplet ejection criteria. Stability of the interface is determined using linear stability methods. In addition to application to liquidmetal PFCs, thin film liquidmetal effects have application to current and future devices where off-normal events may liquefy portions of the first wall and other plasma facing components.

[en] It poses increased challenge to develop a viable plasma-materials interface solution for next-step long pulse tokamaks, such as a Fusion Nuclear Science Facility (FNSF), which will have lower plasma density than ITER for high performance steady-state current drive and high duty cycle operation. An innovative divertor concept, named small angle slot (SAS), has been developed on the DIII-D tokamak facility at General Atomics to address the challenge of efficient divertor heat dispersal compatible with non-inductive current drive in future tokamaks. The goal of this advanced divertor solution is to optimize the geometry of the target and baffle for the control of neutrals to provide the most efficient and complete energy deposition possible. Modeling using a multidimensional boundary plasma-fluid and Monte-Carlo-neutral transport code package (SOLPS) shows that SAS leverages the strong synergistic effects of a critical small target angle and a gas-tight slot geometry to achieve strongly dissipative divertor plasmas over the entire divertor surface at relatively low main plasma densities. This provides a potential means for simultaneous control of heat flux and erosion at the material surface, which is mandatory for high-performance steady-state fusion plasmas.

[en] Predictive modeling of the closed Small Angle Slot (SAS) divertor with toroidal tungsten (W) rings in different poloidal locations is conducted to evaluate the impact of divertor closure on high-Z impurity sourcing and transport. These simulations utilize the DIVIMP code for W erosion, transport and deposition/redeposition, with background plasma solutions provided by SOLPS5.1. It is found that the level of W leakage is mostly determined by the divertor plasma conditions, the location of the W source and redeposition processes. High density plasmas in the SAS slot result in shorter ionization mean free paths than in the far-target region, resulting in higher redeposition rate. The induced friction force dominates in the near-target region, driving W impurities downstream towards the target surface. As a result, a W source at the strike point in the SAS divertor demonstrates lower net erosion and divertor leakage, despite higher gross erosion, compared to W sources in the far-target region. (topical issue article)

[en] A reduced model of high-Z impurities erosion and redeposition is presented to analyze net erosion of tungsten material in divertor attached plasma conditions measured in DIII-D experiments. This reduced model is tailored to quantify the redeposition and the net erosion on high-Z material samples of sufficiently small dimensions to be considered exposed to uniform plasma conditions. For those uniform plasma conditions, the spatial distribution of redeposited high-Z impurities is well approximated by an analytical distribution characterized by a few parameters. The fraction of high-Z impurity eroding and redepositing on a material sample is then obtained by integrating this distribution across the material sample. The ratio of net erosion rates of tungsten measured experimentally from tungsten samples of different sizes exposed to the same attached plasma conditions are well reproduced with this reduced model. It is shown that uncertainties induced by radially non-uniform plasma conditions in experiments can be significantly reduced by exposing samples to high density divertor plasma. Several enhanced experimental setups are proposed to measure and compare net erosion rates from samples of various areas during a single plasma experiment. (paper)

[en] We analyzed recent DIII-D tokamak tungsten divertor probe experiments using advanced, coupled, sputter erosion/redeposition, plasma, and surface response code packages. Modeling is done for ELMing H-mode, and L-mode plasmas, impinging on various size tungsten deposits on Divertor Material Evaluation System (DiMES) carbon probes. The simulations compute 3D, full kinetic, sub-gyromotion, impurity sputtering and transport, including changes in tungsten surface composition and response due to mixed deuterium and carbon ions irradiation. Per our analysis, ELM (edge localized mode) plasma sputtering in DIII-D mostly involves free-streaming high energy (∼500–1000 eV) D⁺ and C⁺⁶ ions, with high near-surface plasma density. L-Mode sputtering is due to impurity sputtering (C, W) only, with lower density. All cases show complete redeposition of tungsten on the divertor, with significant redeposition on the tungsten spots themselves, and low self-sputtering. Comparison of ELM plasma gross tungsten erosion simulation results with in-situ spectroscopic data is good, as are code/data comparisons of net erosion using post-exposure Rutherford backscattering (RBS) data for the L-mode probes. The analysis, extrapolated to a full tungsten divertor, implies low net erosion and negligible plasma contamination from sputtering. These results support the use of high-Z plasma facing surfaces in ITER and beyond. (paper)

[en] Highlights: • Carbon deposition on W between ELMs investigated in DIII-D in H-mode plasma. • No C deposition on W observed during these experiments, even at high densities. • Regime of C deposition on W between ELMs however predicted by the ERO model. • ELMs may induce significant carbon erosion from tungsten surface. - Abstract: Carbon deposition on tungsten between ELMs was investigated in DIII-D in semi-attached/detached H-mode plasma conditions using fixed outer strike point (OSP) positions. Carbon deposition during plasma exposure of tungsten was monitored in-situ by measuring the reflectivity of the tungsten sample surface. No significant carbon deposition, i.e., without strong variations of the reflectivity, was observed during these experiments including discharges at high densities. In contrast, ERO modeling predicts a significant carbon deposition on the tungsten surface for those high density plasma conditions. The surface reflectivity decreases with methane injection, consistent with increased carbon coverage, as expected. The sweeping of OSP leads to a pronounced increase of the surface reflectivity, suggesting that the strike point sweeping may provide an effective means to remove carbon coating from tungsten surface. The ERO modeling however predicts again a regime of carbon deposition for these experiments. The discrepancies between carbon deposition regime predicted by the ERO model and the experimental observations suggest that carbon erosion during ELMs may significantly affect carbon deposition on tungsten.

[en] A toroidally symmetric tungsten ring inserted in the lower outer divertor of DIII-D was exposed to 25 repeated, attached L-mode shots in reverse- configuration. Radial profiles of the W gross erosion flux inferred in situ from spectroscopic measurements of the WI line (400.9 nm) during these experiments are well reproduced by ERO-D3D simulations of carbon and tungsten impurity erosion, transport and redeposition in the outer divertor region. Tungsten gross erosion is mainly induced by physical sputtering of tungsten by carbon impurities. The outward radial transport of carbon impurities in the outer divertor is shown to be mainly governed by drifts in the sheath region. In addition, the erosion and redeposition of carbon on tungsten, induced by the implantation of carbon into tungsten modeled with the homogeneous mixed material model, increases the effective flux of carbon impurities onto the tungsten ring (carbon recycling on tungsten). The dynamics of carbon implantation in tungsten is shown to be consistent with the plasma shot duration in DIII-D. Moreover, it is shown that the localized deposition of tungsten measured experimentally in the outboard region away from the tungsten ring is caused by the long-range radial transport of tungsten impurities in the outer divertor region induced by the interplay between poloidal and radial drifts. Such experimental measurements might provide direct quantitative estimations of tungsten net erosion. The modeling and analysis of carbon and tungsten erosion and redeposition presented in this paper demonstrates that various physical mechanisms and their synergistic effects need to be taken into account to accurately describe erosion, transport and redeposition of impurities in tokamak divertors. (paper)

[en] Silicon carbide (SiC) represents a promising but largely untested plasma-facing material (PFM) for next-step fusion devices. In this work, an analytic mixed-material erosion model is developed by calculating the physical (via SDTrimSP) and chemical (via empirical scalings) sputtering yield from SiC, Si, and C. The Si content in the near-surface SiC layer is predicted to increase during D plasma bombardment due to more efficient physical and chemical sputtering of C relative to Si. Silicon erosion from SiC thereby occurs primarily from sputtering of the enriched Si layer, rather than directly from the SiC itself. SiC coatings on ATJ graphite, manufactured via chemical vapor deposition, were exposed to repeated H-mode plasma discharges in the DIII-D tokamak to test this model. The qualitative trends from analytic modeling are reproduced by the experimental measurements, obtained via spectroscopic inference using the S/XB method. Quantitatively the model slightly under-predicts measured erosion rates, which is attributed to uncertainties in the ion impact angle distribution, as well as the effect of edge-localized modes. After exposure, minimal changes to the macroscopic or microscopic surface morphology of the SiC coatings were observed. Compositional analysis reveals Si enrichment of about 10%, in line with expectations from the erosion model. Extrapolating to a DEMO-type device, an order-of-magnitude decrease in impurity sourcing, and up to a factor of 2 decrease in impurity radiation, is expected with SiC walls, relative to graphite, if low C plasma impurity content can be achieved. These favorable erosion properties motivate further investigations of SiC as a low-Z, non-metallic PFM. (paper)

[en] Both thin (<1 μm) and thick (∼500 μm) lithium films under high-flux deuterium and neon plasma bombardment were studied in the linear plasma device Magnum-PSI at ion fluxes >10"2"4 m"−"2 s"−"1 and surface temperatures <700 °C. During Ne plasma exposures, Li erosion rates inferred from measurements of Li–I radiation exceed Langmuir Law evaporation, but no previous results exist to benchmark the binary collision approximation (BCA) and thermal sputtering measurements. Measured Li erosion rates during D plasma bombardment were compared to the adatom-evaporation model of thermal sputtering with an additional reduction term to account for the relative D/Li composition of the Li film. This model captures the qualitative evolution of the Li erosion yield but still overestimates the measured erosion by a factor of 5–10. This suggests that additional refinements to the mixed-material model are needed