Plasma-Surface Interaction Research At The Cambridge Laboratory Of Accelerator Studies Of Surfaces

摘要

The material requirements for plasma-facing components in a nuclear fusion reactor are some of the strictest and most challenging facing us today. These materials are simultaneously exposed to extreme heat loads (20 MW/m~(2) steady-state, 1 GW/m~(2) in millisecond transients) and particle fluxes (>10~(24) m~(-2)s~(-1)) while also undergoing high neutron irradiation (10~(18) neutrons/m~(2)s). At the Cambridge Laboratory of Accelerator Studies of Surfaces (CLASS), many of the most important issues in plasma-surface interaction research, such as plasma-driven material erosion and deposition, material transport and irradiation and hydrogenic retention are investigated with the use of a 1.7 MV tandem ion accelerator. Ion-Beam Analysis (IBA) is used to investigate and quantify changes in materials due to plasma exposure and ion irradiation is used as a proxy for neutron irradiation to investigate plasma-surface interactions for irradiated materials. This report will outline the capabilities and current research activities at CLASS.