Heating and ablation of tokamak graphite by pulsed nanosecond Nd-YAG lasers

International audienceThe results on laser heating and ablation of graphite tiles of thermonuclear tokamaks are presented. Two pulsed Nd-YAG lasers (20 Hz repetition rate, 5 ns pulse duration and 10 kHz repetition rate, 100 ns pulse duration) were applied for ablation measurements. The ablation thresholds (1.0$\pm$0.5 J/cm$^2$ for 5 ns and 2.5$\pm$0.5 J/cm$^2$ for 100 ns laser pulses) were determined for the Tore Supra tokamak graphite tiles (backside) nonexposed to plasma. The high repetition rate Nd-YAG laser (10 kHz, 100 ns pulse duration) and the developed pyrometer system were applied for graphite heating measurements. Some unexpected features of laser heating of the graphite surface were observed. They were explained by the presence of a thin surface layer with the properties different from those of the bulk graphite. The theoretical models of laser heating and near-threshold ablation of graphite with imperfectly adhered layer were developed to interpret the experimental results