Observations concerning the injection of a lithium aerosol into the edge of TFTR discharges

摘要

A new method of actively modifying the plasma-wall interaction was tested on the Toka- mak fusion Test Reactor. A laser was used to introduce a directed lithium aerosol into the discharge scrape-off layer. The lithium introduced in this fashion ablated and migrated preferentially to the lim- iter contact points. This allowed the plasma-wall interaction to be influenced in situ and in real time by external means. Significant improvement in energy confinement and fusion neutron production rate as well as a reduction in the plasma Z_eff have been documented in a neutral beam heated plasma.