| 1. |
- Fenstermacher, M.E., et al.
(author)
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DIII-D research advancing the physics basis for optimizing the tokamak approach to fusion energy
- 2022
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In: Nuclear Fusion. - : IOP Publishing. - 0029-5515 .- 1741-4326. ; 62:4
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- DIII-D physics research addresses critical challenges for the operation of ITER and the next generation of fusion energy devices. This is done through a focus on innovations to provide solutions for high performance long pulse operation, coupled with fundamental plasma physics understanding and model validation, to drive scenario development by integrating high performance core and boundary plasmas. Substantial increases in off-axis current drive efficiency from an innovative top launch system for EC power, and in pressure broadening for Alfven eigenmode control from a co-/counter-I p steerable off-axis neutral beam, all improve the prospects for optimization of future long pulse/steady state high performance tokamak operation. Fundamental studies into the modes that drive the evolution of the pedestal pressure profile and electron vs ion heat flux validate predictive models of pedestal recovery after ELMs. Understanding the physics mechanisms of ELM control and density pumpout by 3D magnetic perturbation fields leads to confident predictions for ITER and future devices. Validated modeling of high-Z shattered pellet injection for disruption mitigation, runaway electron dissipation, and techniques for disruption prediction and avoidance including machine learning, give confidence in handling disruptivity for future devices. For the non-nuclear phase of ITER, two actuators are identified to lower the L-H threshold power in hydrogen plasmas. With this physics understanding and suite of capabilities, a high poloidal beta optimized-core scenario with an internal transport barrier that projects nearly to Q = 10 in ITER at ∼8 MA was coupled to a detached divertor, and a near super H-mode optimized-pedestal scenario with co-I p beam injection was coupled to a radiative divertor. The hybrid core scenario was achieved directly, without the need for anomalous current diffusion, using off-axis current drive actuators. Also, a controller to assess proximity to stability limits and regulate β N in the ITER baseline scenario, based on plasma response to probing 3D fields, was demonstrated. Finally, innovative tokamak operation using a negative triangularity shape showed many attractive features for future pilot plant operation.
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| 2. |
- Rudakov, D. L., et al.
(author)
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Dust measurements in tokamaks (invited)
- 2008
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In: Review of Scientific Instruments. - : AIP Publishing. - 0034-6748 .- 1089-7623. ; 79:10, s. 10F303-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Dust production and accumulation present potential safety and operational issues for the ITER. Dust diagnostics can be divided into two groups: diagnostics of dust on surfaces and diagnostics of dust in plasma. Diagnostics from both groups are employed in contemporary tokamaks; new diagnostics suitable for ITER are also being developed and tested. Dust accumulation in ITER is likely to occur in hidden areas, e.g., between tiles and under divertor baffles. A novel electrostatic dust detector for monitoring dust in these regions has been developed and tested at PPPL. In the DIII-D tokamak dust diagnostics include Mie scattering from Nd:YAG lasers, visible imaging, and spectroscopy. Laser scattering is able to resolve particles between 0.16 and 1.6 mu m in diameter; using these data the total dust content in the edge plasmas and trends in the dust production rates within this size range have been established. Individual dust particles are observed by visible imaging using fast framing cameras, detecting dust particles of a few microns in diameter and larger. Dust velocities and trajectories can be determined in two-dimension with a single camera or three-dimension using multiple cameras, but determination of particle size is challenging. In order to calibrate diagnostics and benchmark dust dynamics modeling, precharacterized carbon dust has been injected into the lower divertor of DIII-D. Injected dust is seen by cameras, and spectroscopic diagnostics observe an increase in carbon line (CI, CII, C(2) dimer) and thermal continuum emissions from the injected dust. The latter observation can be used in the design of novel dust survey diagnostics.
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| 3. |
- Allen, S. L., et al.
(author)
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C-13 transport studies in L-mode divertor plasmas on DIII-D
- 2005
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In: Journal of Nuclear Materials. - : Elsevier BV. - 0022-3115 .- 1873-4820. ; 337-39:03-jan, s. 30-34
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- (CH4)-C-13 was injected with a toroidally-symmetric gas system into 22 identical lower-single-null L-mode discharges on DIII-D. The injection level was adjusted so that it did not significantly perturb the core or divertor plasmas, with a duration of similar to 3 s on each shot, for a total of similar to 300 T L of injected particles. The plasma shape remained very constant; the divertor strike points were controlled to similar to 1 cm at the divertor plate. At the beginning of the subsequent machine vent, 29 carbon tiles were removed for nuclear reaction analysis of C-13 content to determine regions of carbon deposition. It was found that only the tiles inboard of the inner strike point had appreciable 1 3 C above background. Visible spectroscopy measurements of the carbon injection and comparisons with modeling are consistent with carbon transport by means of scrape-off layer flow.
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| 4. |
- De Angeli, M., et al.
(author)
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Cross machine investigation of magnetic tokamak dust : Morphological and elemental analysis
- 2021
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In: Fusion engineering and design. - : Elsevier BV. - 0920-3796 .- 1873-7196. ; 166
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The presence of magnetic dust can be an important issue for future fusion reactors where plasma breakdown is critical. Magnetic dust has been collected from contemporary fusion devices (FTU, Alcator C-Mod, COMPASS and DIII-D) that feature different plasma facing components. The results of morphological and elemental analysis are presented. Magnetic dust is based on steel or nickel alloys and its magnetism is generated by intense plasma material interactions. In spite of the strong similarities in terms of morphology and composition, X-ray diffraction analysis revealed differences in the structural evolution that leads to non-trivial magnetic responses.
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| 5. |
- Litnovsky, A., et al.
(author)
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Dust investigations in TEXTOR : Impact of dust on plasma-wall interactions and on plasma performance
- 2013
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In: Journal of Nuclear Materials. - : Elsevier BV. - 0022-3115 .- 1873-4820. ; 438:Suppl., s. S126-S132
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Dust will have severe impact on ITER performance since the accumulation of tritium in dust represents a safety issue, a possible reaction of dust with air and steam imposes an explosion hazard and the penetration of dust in core plasmas may degrade plasma performance by increasing radiative losses. Investigations were performed in TEXTOR where known amounts of pre-characterized carbon, diamond and tungsten dust were mobilized into plasmas using special dust holders. Mobilization of dust changed a balance between plasma-surface interactions processes, significantly increasing net deposition. Immediately after launch dust was dominating both core and edge plasma parameters. Remarkably, in about 100 ms after the launch, the effect of dust on edge and core plasma parameters was vanished: no increase of carbon and tungsten concentrations in the core plasmas was detected suggesting a prompt transport of dust to the nearby plasma-facing components without further residence in the plasma.
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| 6. |
- Litnovsky, A., et al.
(author)
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Optimization of tungsten castellated structures for the ITER divertor
- 2015
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In: Journal of Nuclear Materials. - : Elsevier BV. - 0022-3115 .- 1873-4820. ; 463, s. 174-179
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In ITER, the plasma-facing components (PFCs) of the first wall and the divertor armor will be castellated to improve their thermo-mechanical stability and to limit forces due to induced currents. The fuel accumulation in the gaps may significantly contribute to the in-vessel fuel inventory. Castellation shaping may be the most straightforward way to minimize the fuel inventory and to alleviate the thermal loads onto castellations. A new castellation shape was proposed and comparative modeling of conventional (rectangular) and shaped castellation was performed for ITER conditions. Shaped castellation was predicted to be capable to operate under stationary heat load of 20 MW/m(2). An 11-fold decrease of beryllium (Be) content in the gaps of the shaped cells alone with a 7-fold decrease of carbon content was predicted. In order to validate the predictive capabilities of modeling tools used for ITER conditions, the dedicated modeling with the same codes was made for existing tokamaks and benchmarked with the results of multi-machine experiments. For the castellations exposed in TEXTOR and DIII-D, the carbon amount in the gaps of shaped cells was 1.9-2.3 times smaller than that of rectangular ones. Modeling for TEXTOR conditions yielded to 1.5-fold decrease of carbon content in the gaps of shaped castellation outlining fair agreement with the experiment. At the same time, a number of processes, like enhanced erosion of molten layer yet need to be implemented in the codes in order to increase the accuracy of predictions for ITER.
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| 7. |
- Ratynskaia, Svetlana V., et al.
(author)
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Tungsten dust remobilization under steady-state and transient plasma conditions
- 2017
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In: NUCLEAR MATERIALS AND ENERGY. - : Elsevier. - 2352-1791. ; 12, s. 569-574
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Remobilization is one of the most prominent unresolved fusion dust-relevant issues, strongly related to the lifetime of dust in plasma-wetted regions, the survivability of dust on hot plasma-facing surfaces and the formation of dust accumulation sites. A systematic cross-machine study has been initiated to investigate the remobilization of tungsten micron-size dust from tungsten surfaces implementing a newly developed technique based on controlled pre-adhesion by gas dynamics methods. It has been utilized in a number of devices and has provided new insights on remobilization under steady-state and transient conditions. The experiments are interpreted with contact mechanics theory and heat conduction models.
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| 8. |
- Bykov, I., et al.
(author)
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Modification of adhered dust on plasma-facing surfaces due to exposure to ELMy H-mode plasma in DIII-D
- 2017
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In: NUCLEAR MATERIALS AND ENERGY. - : Elsevier BV. - 2352-1791. ; 12, s. 379-385
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Transient heat load tests have been conducted in the lower divertor of DIII-D using DiMES manipulator in order to study the behavior of dust on tungsten Plasma Facing Components (PFCs) during ELMy H-mode discharges. Samples with pre- adhered, pre- characterized dust have been exposed at the outer strike point (OSP) in a series of discharges with varied intra-(inter-) ELM heat fluxes. We used C dust because of its high sublimation temperature and non-metal properties. Al dust as a surrogate for Be and W dust were employed as relevant to that in the ITER divertor. The poor initial thermal contact between the substrate and the particles led to overheating, sublimation and shrinking of the carbon dust, and wetting induced coagulation of Al dust. Little modification of the W dust was observed. An enhanced surface adhesion and improvement of the thermal contact of C and Al dust were the result of exposure. A post mortem "adhesive tape" sampling showed that 70% of Al, <5% of W and C particles could not be removed from the surface owing to the improved adhesion. Al and C but not W particles that could be lifted had W inclusions indicating damage to the substrate. This suggests that non destructive methods may be inefficient for removal of dust in ITER.
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| 9. |
- De Temmerman, G., et al.
(author)
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Interactions of diamond surfaces with fusion relevant plasmas
- 2009
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In: Physica scripta. T. - : Institute of Physics Publishing (IOPP). - 0281-1847 .- 0031-8949 .- 1402-4896. ; T138, s. 014013-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The outstanding thermal properties of diamond and its low reactivity towards hydrogen may make it an attractive plasma-facing material for fusion and calls for a proper evaluation of its behaviour under exposure to fusion-relevant plasma conditions. Micro and nanocrystalline diamond layers, deposited on Mo and Si substrates by hot filament chemical vapour deposition (CVD), have been exposed both in tokamaks and in linear plasma devices to measure the erosion rate of diamond and study the modification of the surface properties induced by particle bombardment. Experiments in Pilot-PSI and PISCES-B have shown that the sputtering yield of diamond (both physical and chemical) was a factor of 2 lower than that of graphite. Exposure to detached plasma conditions in the DIII-D tokamak have evidenced a strong resistance of diamond against erosion under those conditions.
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| 10. |
- Kantor, M., et al.
(author)
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Characterization of dust particles in the TEXTOR tokamak with Thomson scattering diagnostic
- 2013
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In: Journal of Nuclear Materials. - : Elsevier BV. - 0022-3115 .- 1873-4820. ; 438:Suppl., s. S711-S714
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The presence of dust particles in a fusion plasma is recognized as a serious issue for safe and efficient operation of the ITER tokamak. The paper presents an in situ laser assisted method for characterization of dust from thermal emission of the particles. The method was developed in the TEXTOR tokamak with the use of Thomson scattering (TS). The diagnostic is capable to detect single particles and measure the dust density profile along the laser probing axis, velocity distribution of dust particles along this axis as well as surface temperature and size of the detected particles.
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| 11. |
- Litnovsky, A., et al.
(author)
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Diagnostic mirrors for ITER : A material choice and the impact of erosion and deposition on their performance
- 2007
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In: Journal of Nuclear Materials. - : Elsevier BV. - 0022-3115 .- 1873-4820. ; 363, s. 1395-1402
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Metal mirrors will be implemented in about half of the ITER diagnostics. Mirrors in ITER will have to withstand radiation loads, erosion by charge-exchange neutrals, deposition of impurities, particle implantation and neutron irradiation. It is believed that the optical properties of diagnostic mirrors will be primarily influenced by erosion and deposition. A solution is needed for optimal performance of mirrors in ITER throughout the entire lifetime of the machine. A multi-machine research on diagnostic mirrors is currently underway in fusion facilities at several institutions and laboratories worldwide. Among others, dedicated investigations of ITER-candidate mirror materials are ongoing in Tore-Supra, TEXTOR, DIII-D, TCV, T-10 and JET. Laboratory studies are underway at IPP Kharkov (Ukraine), Kurchatov Institute (Russia) and the University of Basel (Switzerland). An overview of current research on diagnostic mirrors along with an outlook on future investigations is the subject of this paper.
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| 12. |
- Porro, S., et al.
(author)
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Diamond coatings exposure to fusion-relevant plasma conditions
- 2011
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In: Journal of Nuclear Materials. - : Elsevier BV. - 0022-3115 .- 1873-4820. ; 415:1, s. S161-S164
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Several types of diamond layers have been deposited on molybdenum tiles by chemical vapour deposition techniques, and exposed under erosion-dominated conditions in the SOL of TEXTOR in order to assess them as a suitable candidate for plasma-facing material. Post-exposure characterisation of physical properties and surface modification induced by the plasma was performed by SEM imaging, investigation of diamond surface by micro-Raman spectroscopy and deuterium retention measurements by NRA. The analyses evidenced that lightly boron-doped micro-crystalline diamond is performing better than undoped and heavily doped samples, and nano-crystalline diamond and diamond-like carbon, as it showed lower surface modification, lower presence of arcing traces at the surface and lower deuterium retention. High concentration of boron in the layers led to higher retention of deuterium, whereas undoped (insulating) diamond showed increased arcing activity. Nano-crystalline diamond and diamond-like carbon layers generally showed poorer mechanical properties.
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| 13. |
- Ratynskaia, Svetlana, et al.
(author)
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Diagnostics of mobile dust in scrape-off layer plasmas
- 2011
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In: Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion. - : IOP Publishing. - 0741-3335 .- 1361-6587. ; 53:7, s. 074009-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Dust production and accumulation pose serious safety and operational implications for the next generation fusion devices. Mobile dust particles can result in core plasma contamination with impurities, and those with high velocities can significantly contribute to the wall erosion. Diagnostics for monitoring dust in tokamaks during plasma discharges are hence important as they can provide information on dust velocity and size, and-in some cases-on dust composition. Such measurements are also valuable as an input for theoretical models of dust dynamics in scrape-off layer plasmas. Existing in situ dust diagnostics, focusing on the range of dust parameters they can detect, are reviewed. Particular attention is paid to the diagnostics which allow us to detect tails of the dust velocity and size distributions, e.g. small and very fast particles. Some of the techniques discussed have been adopted from space-related research and have been shown to be feasible and useful for tokamak applications as well.
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| 14. |
- Ratynskaia, Svetlana V., et al.
(author)
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In situ dust detection in fusion devices
- 2008
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In: Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion. - : IOP Publishing. - 0741-3335 .- 1361-6587. ; 50:12, s. 124046-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Diagnostics for monitoring dust in tokamaks during plasma discharges, both established and currently being developed, are discussed with a focus on the range of dust parameters they can detect. Visible imaging can currently be used for dust particles bigger than a few mu m and velocities below 1 km s(-1). The dust impact ionization phenomenon can be used for the detection of particles with velocities above a few km s(-1). Laser light scattering gives an insight into the amount of sub-micron dust. Aerogels, light porous materials, allow capturing of dust particles without destroying them and determining their velocity. Other methods include the microbalance technique and electrostatic dust detectors. A recent suggestion to use the effects of dust on collective scattering for diagnostic purposes is also discussed.
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