Measurement of the edge ion temperature in W7-X with island divertor by a retarding field analyzer probe

Abstract

Knowledge of the edge ion temperature (Ti) is important to understand the edge physics in fusion plasmas. The Ti edge profile has been successfully measured at W7-X in an island divertor configuration using a retarding field analyzer probe on a reciprocating manipulator. The experimental observations show that in the standard configuration, an ion temperature shoulder at the plasma boundary has been observed near the location where a sudden change of the magnetic field connection length appears in the scrape-off layer (SOL) region. The value of the Ti shoulder was observed to be dependent on the edge island structure modified by the control coils, SOL kinetic power, and electron density. A significant reduction and flattening in the edge ion temperature profile has been also observed during the nitrogen seeding from the upper horizontal divertor port. In addition, the edge ion-to-electron temperature ratio has been calculated, which gradually increases with the major radius and decreases with the normalized ion collisionality. An extended two-point model including upstream ion temperature is introduced to understand the experimental measurement.