LIBS analysis of tungsten coatings exposed to Magnum PSI ELM-like plasma

Abstract

The aim of this work was to study the applicability of laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) as an in situ method for monitoring plasma facing materials in fusion reactors. Tungsten coated samples were exposed to Magnum PSI plasma using two different regimes: the steady-state (the sequence of approximately 11s pulses) and the ELM-like. Right after the plasma exposure samples were tested with LIBS in the Magnum PSI analyses and target exchange chamber.Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were used to characterize the surface morphology and crystallinity. These methods showed that changes at the sample surface caused by used ELM-like mode did not differ remarkably from those caused by steady-state mode. Surface temperature had significant effect on the surface structure. In addition post mortem LIBS measurements were performed that gave result similar to that of in situ LIBS.