DiMES divertor erosion experiments on DIII-D

The DiMES (Divertor Material Evaluation Studies) mechanism allows insertion of material samples to the lower divertor floor of the DIII-D tokamak. The main purpose of these studies is to measure erosion rates and redeposition mechanisms under tokamak divertor plasma conditions in order to obtain a physical understanding of the erosion/redeposition processes and to determine its implications for fusion power plant plasma facing components. Thin metal films of Be, W, V, and Mo, were deposited on a Si depth-marked graphite sample and exposed to the steady-state outer strike point on DIII-D. A variety of surface analysis techniques are used to determine the erosion/redeposition of the metals and the carbon after 5--15 seconds of exposure. These short exposure times ensure controlled exposure conditions and the extensive array of DIII-D divertor diagnostics provide a well characterized plasma for modeling efforts. Erosion rates and redeposition lengths are found to decrease with the atomic number of the metallic species, as expected. Under these conditions, the peak net erosion rate for carbon is {approximately} 4 nm/s, with the erosion following the ion flux profile. Comparisons of the measured carbon erosion with REDEP code calculations show good agreement for both the absolute net erosion rate and its spatial variation. Measured erosion rates of the metals are smaller than predicted for sputtering from a bare metal surface, apparently due to effects of carbon deposition on the metal surface. Visible spectroscopic measurements of singly ionized Be have determined that the erosion process reaches steady-state during the exposure