Tungsten nano-tendril growth in the Alcator C-Mod divertor

TY - JOUR

T1 - Tungsten nano-tendril growth in the Alcator C-Mod divertor

AU - Wright, G.M.

AU - Brunner, D.

AU - Labombard, B.

AU - Lipschultz, B.

AU - Terry, J.L.

AU - Whyte, D.G.

AU - Baldwin, M.J.

AU - Doerner, R.P.

PY - 2012/4/1

Y1 - 2012/4/1

N2 - Growth of tungsten nano-tendrils (fuzz) has been observed for the first time in the divertor region of a high-power density tokamak experiment. After 14 consecutive helium L-mode discharges in Alcator C-Mod, the tip of a tungsten Langmuir probe at the outer strike point was fully covered with a layer of nano-tendrils. The thickness of the individual nano-tendrils (50100nm) and the depth of the layer (600150nm) are consistent with observations from experiments on linear plasma devices. The observation of tungsten fuzz in a tokamak may have important implications for material erosion, dust formation, divertor lifetime and tokamak operations in next-step devices.

AB - Growth of tungsten nano-tendrils (fuzz) has been observed for the first time in the divertor region of a high-power density tokamak experiment. After 14 consecutive helium L-mode discharges in Alcator C-Mod, the tip of a tungsten Langmuir probe at the outer strike point was fully covered with a layer of nano-tendrils. The thickness of the individual nano-tendrils (50100nm) and the depth of the layer (600150nm) are consistent with observations from experiments on linear plasma devices. The observation of tungsten fuzz in a tokamak may have important implications for material erosion, dust formation, divertor lifetime and tokamak operations in next-step devices.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84860774369&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1088/0029-5515/52/4/042003

DO - 10.1088/0029-5515/52/4/042003

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84860774369

SN - 0029-5515

VL - 52

JO - Nuclear fusion

JF - Nuclear fusion

IS - 4

M1 - 042003

ER -