Abstract
To produce a realistic tokamak-like plasma environment, a transient source is needed to deliver edge localized mode (ELM) magnitude heat and particle fluxes. ELMs in future large tokamaks will deliver heat fluxes of ~1 GW/m2 to the divertor plasma facing components (PFC) at a few Hz. Linear plasma devices use a solenoidal magnetic field to focus the plasma downstream to a target. An electrothermal plasma source can deliver heat fluxes of this magnitude. These sources operate in an ablative arc regime which is driven by a DC capacitive discharge. An ET source was configured with two pulse lengths and tested under a solenoidal magnetic field to determine the resulting impact on liner ablation, plasma parameters, and delivered heat flux. The arc travels through and ablates a boron nitride liner and strikes a tungsten plate. The tungsten target plate is analyzed for surface damage using a scanning electron microscope (SEM).
