0000000000172548
AUTHOR
S. Aleiferis
Production of hydrogen negative ions in an ECR volume source: balance between vibrational excitation and ionization
International audience; The operation of an ECR-driven (2.45 GHz) hydrogen negative ion source is studied. Electron densities and temperatures are investigated with electrostatic probes and negative ion densities are measured with laser photodetachment. Vacuum ultraviolet irradiance measurements are focused on molecular transitions to the ground state while high-resolution visible emission spectroscopy is used to study the transitions between excited states for both molecules and atoms. The standalone operation of the source is found to be more efficient in higher pressures (12 mTorr) where negative ion densities are as high as 4×109 cm−3. Further investigation on the operation of the sou…
Impurity behaviour in JET-ILW plasmas fuelled with gas and/or with pellets: a comparative study with the transport code COREDIV
Abstract This study deals with the comparison of impurity behaviour in pellet and gas fuelled JET-ITER like wall pulses with the aim of finding the mechanisms leading to the generally observed higher concentration of tungsten in pellet fuelled plasmas. In fact, tungsten is the main high-Z impurity in the JET-ILW plasmas and is responsible for most of the radiative losses in the plasma core. Analysis of the experimental data pertaining to pulses at different plasma currents, different input power and different electron densities is integrated by numerical modelling with the self-consistent fluid transport code COREDIV. Experimentally, and numerically, the ratio between the radiated power in …
Experimental investigation of the relation between H− negative ion density and Lyman-α emission intensity in a microwave discharge
International audience; A new mechanism for producing negative ions in low density and low power hydrogen plasmas was proposed recently. It refers to anion formation due to collisions between hydrogen atoms being in the first excited state. The proposed mechanism was indirectly supported by the quadratic relation observed between the extracted negative ion current and Lyman-α radiation of a filament-driven arc discharge, when borrowed data from the literature were combined. The present work provides experimental data comparing directly the absolute negative ion density and Lyman-α radiation in an ECR-driven hydrogen plasma source. The previously mentioned quadratic relation is not observed …
Hydrogen plasma induced photoelectron emission from low work function cesium covered metal surfaces
Experimental results of hydrogen plasma induced photoelectron emission from cesium covered metal surfaces under ion source relevant conditions are reported. The transient photoelectron current during the Cs deposition process is measured from Mo, Al, Cu, Ta, Y, Ni, and stainless steel (SAE 304) surfaces. The photoelectron emission is 2–3.5 times higher at optimal Cs layer thickness in comparison to the clean substrate material. Emission from the thick layer of Cs is found to be 60%–80% lower than the emission from clean substrates. peerReviewed
Understanding tungsten erosion during inter/intra-ELM periods in He-dominated JET-ILW plasmas
Tungsten erosion was quantified during inter/intra-ELM periods in He-dominated JET-ILW plasmas by optical emission spectroscopy. The intra-ELM tungsten sputtering in helium plasmas, which dominates the total W source, prevails by a factor of about 4 over inter-ELM sputtering in the investigated ELM frequency range from 90 Hz-120 Hz. He ions are mainly responsible for the W erosion during the ELMs in He plasmas. The strong in/out asymmetry of the ELM-induced W erosion is observed in He plasmas even at high ELM frequencies beyond 100 Hz. In Ohmic/L-mode plasmas and during the H-mode inter-ELM plasma phases both He2+ and Be2+ ionic species are major contributors to the W erosion. Their contrib…
The power threshold of H-mode access in mixed hydrogen–tritium and pure tritium plasmas at JET with ITER-like wall
The heating power to access the high confinement mode (H-mode), PLH, scales approximately inversely with the isotope mass of the main ion plasma species as found in (protonic) hydrogen, deuterium and tritium plasmas in many fusion facilities over the last decades. In first dedicated L–H transition experiments at the Joint European Torus (JET) tokamak facility with the ITER-like wall (ILW), the power threshold, PLH, was studied systematically in plasmas of pure tritium and hydrogen–tritium mixtures at a magnetic field of 1.8 T and a plasma current of 1.7 MA in order to assess whether this scaling still holds in a metallic wall device. The measured power thresholds, PLH, in Ohmically heated t…
VUV emission spectroscopy combined with H- density measurements in the ion source Prometheus I
“Prometheus I” is a volume H− negative ion source, driven by a network of dipolar electron cyclotron resonance (ECR; 2.45 GHz) modules. The vacuum-ultraviolet (VUV) emission spectrum of low-temperature hydrogen plasmas may be related to molecular and atomic processes involved directly or indirectly in the production of negative ions. In this work, VUV spectroscopy has been performed in the above source, Prometheus I, both in the ECR zones and the bulk (far from ECR zones and surfaces) plasma. The acquired VUV spectra are correlated with the negative ion densities, as measured by means of laser photodetachment, and the possible mechanisms of negative ion production are considered. The well-e…
Fuel inventory and material migration of JET main chamber plasma facing components compared over three operational periods
Fuel retention and material migration results from JET ITER-like wall beryllium limiter tiles are presented for three operating periods. Ion beam analysis results support the general picture of erosion during limiter configurations with local deposition on tile ends far into the scrape off layer. Similar trends of fuel concentrations are observed in all JET operating periods; (i) low on surfaces exposed to high heat flux and erosion and (ii) higher in deposits. The pattern of fuel retention and deposition correlates with heat flux and distribution of limiter plasmas touching inner and outer limiters. The D/Be ratio in the thickest deposit is similar to 0.01. Global fuel retention attributed…
Recent progress in L-H transition studies at JET: tritium, helium, hydrogen and deuterium
Abstract We present an overview of results from a series of L–H transition experiments undertaken at JET since the installation of the ITER-like-wall (JET-ILW), with beryllium wall tiles and a tungsten divertor. Tritium, helium and deuterium plasmas have been investigated. Initial results in tritium show ohmic L–H transitions at low density and the power threshold for the L–H transition (P LH) is lower in tritium plasmas than in deuterium ones at low densities, while we still lack contrasted data to provide a scaling at high densities. In helium plasmas there is a notable shift of the density at which the power threshold is minimum ( n ¯ e , min ) to higher values relative to deuterium and …
Photoelectron emission experiments with ECR-driven multi-dipolar negative ion plasma source
Photoelectron emission measurements have been performed using a 2.45 GHz ECR-driven multi-dipolar plasma source in a low pressure hydrogen discharge. Photoelectron currents induced by light emitted from ECR zone and H− production region are measured from Al, Cu, Mo, Ta, and stainless steel (SAE 304) surfaces as a function of microwave power and neutral hydrogen pressure. The total photoelectron current from the plasma chamber wall is estimated to reach values up to 1 A for 900 W of injected microwave power. It is concluded that the volumetric photon emission rate in wavelength range relevant for photoelectron emission is a few times higher in arc discharge. peerReviewed
Erosion and screening of tungsten during inter/intra-ELM periods in the JET-ILW divertor
Abstract Intra-ELM tungsten sources, which dominate the total W source, are quantified in the inner and outer divertor of JET-ILW. The amount of the sputtered W atoms for individual ELMs demonstrates a clear dependence on the ELM frequency. It decreases when the pedestal temperature is lower and, correspondingly, the ELM frequency is higher. Nevertheless, the entire gross erosion W source (the number of eroded W atoms per second due to ELMs) increases initially with ELM frequency and reaches its maximum at fELM ≈ 50–55 Hz followed by its reduction in the high frequency range. The in/out asymmetry of the intra-ELM W sources during ELMs is a critical issue and is investigated in this contribu…