Abstract
The Materials Plasma Exposure eXperiment (MPEX) is a steady-state linear plasma device that will address plasma-material interaction (PMI) science and enable testing of fusion reactor-relevant divertor plasma-facing materials. The MPEX source concept consists of a helicon plasma source to generate the plasma, electron cyclotron heating (ECH) for electron heating, and ion cyclotron heating (ICH) for ion heating. The MPEX source plasma is then transported axially to the PMI material target region to test material samples in fusion reactor-relevant divertor conditions. This paper will summarize the physical and technical basis of MPEX. The paper will first define the MPEX parameters and scenarios at the target relevant to PMI science for various fusion reactor-relevant divertor conditions and show plasma transport modeling results to set the MPEX source parameters. Recent experimental and modeling results from Proto-MPEX, a short-pulse experiment to develop the plasma production, heating, and transport physics for MPEX, will be shown. From these results, it will be shown that MPEX can reach its desired scenarios. The MPEX physical and technical basis will also determine important functional requirements for magnetic field, radiofrequency (RF) power, RF frequency, and neutral pressure in the helicon, ECH, ICH, and PMI regions that are required to achieve the desired MPEX scenarios. The necessity for key in-vessel components such as skimmers, limiters, and microwave absorbers will also be highlighted.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 056009 |
| Journal | Nuclear Fusion |
| Volume | 63 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - May 2023 |
Funding
The authors would like to acknowledge the contributions of many scientists and former graduate students on the MPEX team: Stephanie Diem, Jeremy Lore, Larry Owen, Joshua Beers, Holly Flynn, Nischal Kafle, Pawel Piotrowicz, and Melissa Showers. This work was supported by U.S Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Fusion Energy Sciences under Contract Numbers DE-AC05-00OR22725. This material is based upon work supported by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Fusion Energy Sciences under Contract Number DE-AC05-00OR22725. Notice of Copyright: This manuscript has been authored in part by UT-Battelle, LLC, under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the US Department of Energy (DOE). The US government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the US government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for US government purposes. DOE will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan ( http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public- access-plan ).
Keywords
- divertor simulator
- electron cyclotron heating
- helicon source
- ion cyclotron heating
- linear plasma device
- plasma-material interaction
