Abstract
An improved, self-contained gas injection system for the divertor material evaluation system (DIMES) on DIII-D has been employed for in situ study of chemical erosion in the tokamak divertor environment. To minimize perturbation to local plasma, the Mark II porous plug injector (PPI) releases methane through a porous graphite surface at the outer strike point at a rate precisely controlled by a micro-orifice flow restrictor to be approximately equal as that predicted for intrinsic chemical sputtering. Effective photon efficiencies resulting from CH(4) are found to be 58 +/- 12 in an attached divertor (n(e) similar to 1.5 x 10(13)/cm(3), T(e) similar to 25 eV, T(surf)similar to 450 K), and 94 +/- 20 in a semi-detached cold divertor (n(e) similar to 6.0 x 10(13)/cm(3), T(e) similar to 2-3 eV, T(surf) similar to 350 K). These values are significantly more than previous measurements in similar plasma conditions, indicating the importance of the injection rate and local re-erosion for the integrity of this analysis. The contribution of chemical versus physical sputtering to the source of C(+) at the target is assessed through simultaneous measurement of CII line, and CD plus CH-band emissions during release of CH(4) from the Pill, then compared with that seen in intrinsic sputtering. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.