Study of carbon pellet ablation in ECR-heated W7-AS plasmas

Abstract

The ablation of carbon pellets injected into ECR-heated plasmas of Wendelstein 7-AS (W7-AS) has been investigated using a photographic technique with the aim of studying features of the ablation process in stellarator plasmas. The ablation rate profiles were measured assuming a proportionality of the C II radiation and the ablation rate. This assumption was confirmed experimentally and by simulations performed by a quasi-three-dimensional code. The fraction of continuum radiation, which is detected together with the C II line radiation (when using the light filters with finite spectral width), did not affect these measurements.No significant drifts of pellet clouds in the toroidal, poloidal and radial directions were observed in the C II line (723 nm) emission. From fast electron temperature measurements (Δt = 10 µs) using ECE diagnostics, no indications of a pre-cooling wave were found.A difference between the ablation rates for discharges with low and high plasma density, which lies beyond the error bars, was observed. A specific zone of enhanced ablation was detected at the plasma periphery at high density. The appearance of such ablation enhancement, points to the existence of an additional local heat flux. However, the mechanism that could explain the enhanced ablation phenomena at high plasma densities remains unclear.