Divertor neutral pressure enhancement with a baffle in DIII-D

The open divertor in DIII-D has been modified by the installation of a baffled plenum with a narrow entrance aperture. Neutral particle pressures in the range of 2-20 mtorr have been measured in this new plenum during experiments in L and H mode plasmas in which the neutral beam power was varied and the divertor target location was scanned with respect to the entrance aperture. These pressures exceed the predicted minimum required to provide adequate particle exhaust for controlling the density in H mode discharges when pumping experiments are conducted in the future. The pressure measurements presented here, which were carried out in the absence of a pump, were modelled with the aid of two transport codes: an edge plasma code and a neutrals code. It was found in this modelling process that the divertor flux amplification factor required to explain the measured pressures is of the order of 30 to 40, much higher than the factors used in the modelling of data in the absence of the baffle. This higher flux amplification factor results from increased recycling at the divertor owing to the presence of the baffle.