Power Exhaust Physics

The group is investigating the physics of the power fluxes in the SOL and its deposition onto the Plasma-Facing Components (PFC)

The group’s activity concentrates on mainly three focal topics:

  • Operation and development of diagnostics which are contributing to an understanding of the power deposition onto PFC elements and the composition of the power fluxes w.r.t. radiation, electron and ion contributions.
  • Investigation of the nature of power exhaust fluxes to the divertor and first wall elements. Three areas are regarded as high level priorities:
    • Physics understanding of the power channel width loading thermally the divertor target plates.
    • Characterisation of edge localised (ELM) heat fluxes to the divertor and first wall in unmitigated and mitigated scenarios. The latter include high radiation plasmas and operation of ELM control coils.
    • Rigorous comparison of heat fluxes to state-of-the-art modelling for turbulence and for MHD driven transient heat fluxes (ELMs).
  • Though ultimately a physics understanding is the goal of all activities, many efforts attempt to set up scaling laws with basic plasma and machine parameters in order to evaluate power fluxes in unmitigated conditions for larger devices such as ITER and DEMO. Such scaling attempts are often of benefit in combination with other fusion devices (of different size e.g. JET, see Figure) in order to work out the leading physical quantities for the power width and amplitude and machine size dependence.
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