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In ITER, mirrors will be used as plasma-viewing elements in all optical and laser diagnostics. In the harsh environment, mirror performance will degrade hampering the operation of associated diagnostics. The most adverse effect on mirror performance is caused by the deposition of impurities. It is expected that the most challenging situation will occur in the divertor. With the envisaged changes to all-metal plasma-facing components (PFCs) in ITER, an assessment of mirror performance in an existing divertor tokamak with all-metal PFCs is urgently needed. Molybdenum and copper mirrors were exposed for nearly nine months in ASDEX Upgrade which has all-tungsten PFCs. Mirrors were located at the inner wall, under the dome and in the pump duct. During exposure, the mirrors were heated to temperature in the range 145-165 °C. This was made to approach the expected level of heating due to absorption of neutrons and gammas on mirrors in the ITER divertor. After exposure, degradation of the reflectivity was detected on all mirrors. The highest reflectivity drop was measured on mirrors under the dome facing the outer strike point, reaching -55% at 500 nm. The least degradation was detected on mirrors in the pump duct, where the reflectivity was preserved in the range 500-2500 nm and the largest decrease was about -8% at 250 nm. On all contaminated mirrors carbon fraction did not exceed 50 at% while the major contaminants were metals and oxygen. The degradation of exposed mirrors underlines the necessity for urgent R&D on deposition mitigation and in situ mirror cleaning in ITER. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Castellation will be used in divertor and first wall components to provide thermo-mechanical stability of ITER. Radioactive fuel may be stored in the gaps of castellated structures representing a safety issue for ITER. Tungsten castellated structures with different shapes were exposed in TEXTOR to investigate the impact of cell shaping on impurity transport and fuel deposition in the gaps. After exposure a significant intermixing of tungsten was detected in carbon deposits in the gaps reaching 70at.% of W in the deposited layer. This will provide difficulties in cleaning the gaps in ITER. Poloidal gaps of shaped cells contained a factor or 3 less deuterium than those of rectangular cells, the carbon deposition exhibited only marginal advantages of a new geometry. Poloidal and toroidal gaps contained comparable amount of C and D. Significant deposition at the bottom of gaps was measured which could only partly be reproduced by modeling. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

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. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Supporting pilot experiments and activities which are currently considered or already performed for the development of the International Thermonuclear Experiment Reactor active beam spectroscopy diagnostic are addressed in this article. Four key issues are presented including optimization of spectral instrumentation, feasibility of a motional Stark effect (MSE) evaluation based on line ratios, “first-mirror” test-bed experiments at the tokamak TEXTOR, and finally the role of integrated data analysis for the conceptual layout of the change exchange recombination spectroscopy and MSE diagnostic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Describes the introduction of three-filter colorimetry in the DIII-D tokamak to measure in situ the growth and the erosion of transparent wall coatings in the divertor region. Overview of three-filter colorimetry; White balance setting of the system; Film thickness.

Abstract: The 1.1–1.5mm wide gaps between tiles of the main toroidal belt limiter in TEXTOR were utilized to study the long-term impurity deposition and fuel retention in gaps. The tiles were exposed during a full tokamak campaign of 9365s of plasma to various discharge conditions and wall conditioning, accumulating of up to 30μm thick layers at the gap entrance. It was found that (i) gaps trap impurities twice as efficient as the top surface, (ii) the deposition in the toroidal gaps is twice as high as in the poloidal, (iii) carbon deposition decays with a fall-off length of about 0.7mm towards the gap bottom, (iv) deposition on the bottom is significantly higher than on the adjacent side walls of gaps, and (v) the amount of deuterium scales with the amount of carbon with D/C varying from 3% to 30% depending on the surface temperature. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In future fusion devices like ITER deposition of impurities will likely occur in areas, remote from plasma and on the sensitive components of optical diagnostics, like mirrors and windows. Deposition in remote areas may lead to the tritium retention and therefore represent a safety issue. Deposition on optical components will severely deteriorate their optical properties potentially leading to the shutdown of the respective diagnostic systems. An active control over deposition is therefore highly desirable. The paper contains an overview of experiments on active control over carbon deposition undertaken in TEXTOR tokamak. A prototype of diagnostic duct was exposed in the scrape-off layer plasmas of TEXTOR where several techniques were applied to mitigate carbon deposition on diagnostic mirrors located inside this prototype. The complete suppression of carbon deposition on the surface of diagnostic mirror was achieved by feeding the deuterium gas inside the diagnostic duct. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Pioneering experiments to study local erosion and deposition processes have been carried out in TEXTOR by injecting 13C marked hydrocarbons (CH4 and C2H4) as well as silane (SiD4) and tungsten-hexafluoride (WF6) through test limiters exposed to the edge plasma. The influence of various limiter materials (C, W, Mo) and surface roughness, different geometries (spherical or roof-like) and local plasma parameters has been studied. Depending on these conditions the local deposition efficiency of injected species varies between 0.1% and 9% – the largest deposition has been found for 13CH4 injection through unpolished, spherical C test limiter and ohmic plasma conditions. The most striking result is that ERO modelling cannot reproduce these low deposition efficiencies using the common assumptions on sticking probabilities and physical and chemical re-erosion yields. As an explanation large re-erosion due to background plasma and possibly low “effective sticking” of returning species is applied. This has been interpreted as enhanced re-erosion of re-deposits under simultaneous impact of high ion fluxes from plasma background. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Silicon samples were exposed in the scrape-off layer of the TEXTOR plasma using a fast reciprocating probe, with the aim of studying carbon deposition and deuterium retention during Dynamic Ergodic Divertor (DED) operation. Separate samples were exposed for 300ms at the flat-top phase of neutral beam heated discharges. The exposure conditions were varied on a shot-to-shot basis by external magnetic perturbations generated by the DED in the m/n =3/1, DC regime, base configuration. Nuclear Reaction Analysis (NRA) was used to characterise collector sample surfaces after their exposure. Enhanced concentrations of both carbon and deuterium (C 3–10×1016 at./cm2, D 8–60×1015 at./cm2) were found. The D/C ratio was less than unity which indicates that most of the carbon and deuterium were co-deposited. Carbon e-folding lengths of about 2cm were found on both toroidal sides of the probe independent of DED perturbations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: For safety reasons, the formation of carbon deposits in tokamaks must be limited. To understand how these deposits are formed, a comparative study of the characteristics of carbon deposits collected in TEXTOR and Tore Supra tokamaks has been performed. Both deposits exhibit self-similar morphologies like asparagus tips. Transmission electron microscopy performed on thin foils also reveals structure and texture similarities, with the existence of a regular network of parallel mesopores. Besides, methane adsorption isotherm measurements give evidence for microporosity (0.01cm3 g−1 for TEXTOR and 0.06cm3 g−1 for Tore Supra). Raman microspectrometry as well as temperature programmed desorption experiments demonstrate the presence of polyaromatic species, at the origin of the disordered graphitic nature of these carbons. The analysis of samples heat-treated at 2500°C indicates that they graphitize only to a limited extent due to the existence of nanoparticles. Metallic and ferromagnetic inclusions are also evident inside the deposits. These results therefore suggest complex growth processes, mixing homogeneous nucleation and vapor deposition, similar to what can be observed for catalytic chemical vapor deposition processes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Samples of a limiter tile from the TEXTOR tokamak were investigated by scanning electron microscopy and nuclear reaction analysis both before and after laser heating. SEM images showed spheres and thin flakes covering the surface which are the areas modified by plasma particles striking under grazing angles. Due to roughness of the surface there are shadowed regions between the ‘flakes’. Laser pulses did not lead to expected common ablation of the surface. Features that looked like ‘melting’ of thin surface layers were rather observed. The initial deuterium content in the surface layer of tiles was of the order of 1018 D atoms per cm2. After the laser light impact the content decreased with 60–70%; by reducing the deposited power by a factor four, the deuterium content was decreased by 40–50%. We make the interpretation that we approach a threshold of the laser detritiation method in fusion devices. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

C-13 labeled methane and rhenium–boron coated plates were used at the JET tokamak as tracers for studies of the material transport, its erosion and re-deposition. Experimental procedures are described. The results are discussed in terms of processes underlying the material transport and the change of morphology of targets exposed to the plasma: physical sputtering, chemical erosion, prompt re-deposition. The influence of wall materials on fuel inventory is also addressed. C-14 measurements in the TEXTOR tokamak are presented and possibilities of using 14C in carbon migration studies are considered. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]