Linking PFC surface characteristics and plasma performance in the Lithium Tokamak Experiment
Abstract
The Lithium Tokamak Experiment (LTX) is a spherical torus magnetic confinement device designed to accommodate lithium as the primary plasma-facing component (PFC). Results are presented from the implementation on LTX of the Materials Analysis and Particle Probe (MAPP), a compact in vacuo surface science diagnostic. With MAPP, in situ surface analysis techniques of x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and thermal desorption spectroscopy are used to study evolution of the PFC surface chemistry in LTX as a function of varied lithium coating, hydrogen plasma exposure, and PFC surface temperature (20 - 300°C). Surface analysis results are then correlated with various measures of LTX plasma performance, including toroidal plasma current, line-integrated plasma density, and density-normalized impurity emission. Lithium coatings are observed to convert within hours to Li2O by gettering oxygen from both the residual vacuum and the PFC substrate. However, plasma performance remains elevated even with discharges operating against Li2O -coated PFCs. Hydrogen is retained by these Li2O coatings during a discharge, but it is almost completely desorbed as outgassed H2 in the minutes following the discharge; no persistent LiH formation is observed.
This work was supported by U.S. DOE contracts DE-AC02-09CH11466, DE-AC52-07NA27344, and DE-SC0010717, as well as by an NSF GRFP fellowship under grant DGE-0646086.- Publication:
-
APS Division of Plasma Physics Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- November 2015
- Bibcode:
- 2015APS..DPPG12109L