Suppression of net erosion in the DIII-D divertor with detached plasmas

Abstract

The ability to withstand disruptions makes carbon-based materials attractive for use as plasma-facing components in divertors. However, such materials suffer high erosion rates during attached plasma operation which, in high power long pulse machines, would give short component lifetimes and high tritium inventories. We present the results from recent experiments in DIII-D, in which the divertor materials evaluation system (DiMES) was used to examine erosion and deposition during short exposures to well-defined plasma conditions. These studies show that during operation with detached plasmas, produced by gas injection, net erosion is suppressed everywhere in the divertor. Net deposition of carbon with deuterium was observed at the inner and outer strike points and in the private flux region between strike points. For these low temperature plasmas ( T e<2 eV), physical sputtering is eliminated. These results show that with detached plasmas, the location of carbon net erosion and the carbon impurity source, probably lies outside the divertor. Physical or chemical sputtering by charge-exchange neutrals or ions in the main plasma chamber is a probable source of carbon under these plasma conditions.