Dynamic response of detached recombining plasmas to plasma heat pulse in a divertor simulator

Abstract

The experiments on the plasma heat pulse to the detached recombining helium plasma associated with the volumetric radiative and three-body recombination (EIR) have been performed in a linear divertor plasma simulator. Detailed observations of the time evolution of plasma parameters and helium Balmer series spectra show that the dynamic response of the detached recombining plasma to the heat pulse depends strongly on the heat transport through energetic electrons generated by the heat pulse. For the detached recombining plasma with a relatively low neutral pressure, it was found that the EIR is not sufficient to suppress an increase of ion flux to the target plate during the pulse. Several key characteristic time scales involved in this system are also analyzed.