The density-of-states function of individual colloidal PbSe nanocrystals varying in diameter between 3 and 7 nm is measured by resonant tunneling spectroscopy. It is in semiquantitative agreement with tight-binding calculations, but the energy separation between electron (hole) levels of S and P symmetry is systematically smaller than predicted by the theory. These results provide an explanation for the second and third excitonic optical transitions, which have been debated for a long time.

Abstract. Polycrystalline, annealed tungsten targets were bombarded with 12.3 MeV W 4+ ions to various damage levels. Deuterium was implanted by high-flux plasmas in Pilot-PSI ( >10 24 m -2 s -1 ) at a surface temperature below 525 K. Deuterium retention has been studied by Nuclear Reaction Analysis and by Thermal Desorption Spectroscopy. We found that deuterium retention is strongly enhanced by the tungsten bombardment and that saturation occurs at a W 4+ fluence of about 3·10 17 m -2 . The maximum deuterium concentration in the damaged region was measured to be 1.4 at.%. This is in accordance with other experiments that were carried out at much lower fluxes. We therefore conclude that the saturation behaviour and the maximum retention are not affected by the high fluxes used in our experiments.A simple geometric model is presented that assumes that the saturation solely originates in the tungsten irradiation and that explains it in terms of overlapping saturated volumes. The saturated volume per incident MeV ion amounts to 3·10 4 nm 3 . From our results, we are able to obtain an approximate value for the average occupation number of the vacancies.

Abstract.The surface morphology and deuterium retention were investigated of polycrystalline tungsten targets that were exposed to deuterium plasmas at widely varying conditions. By changing only one parameter at a time, the isolated effects of flux, time and pre-damaging on surface modifications and deuterium retention were studied. The sample exposed to low-flux plasma (10 20 m −2 s −1 ) is mostly smooth with only a few areas containing very large blisters (50 -500 µm). The samples exposed to high-flux plasmas (10 24 m −2 s −1 ) show large numbers of smaller blisters (1 -10 µm) and in addition even smaller protrusions (<750 nm). The size of the blisters and their density strongly increase with fluence. Pre-damaging tungsten with MeV ions leads to less blisters but to more protrusions. In addition to these (sub-)micrometer-sized structures, all samples show formation of nanostructures. Comparison of a low-flux and high-flux sample exposed to similar fluence showed that the variation in morphology is dominated by the flux differences. It is shown that the blisters and protrusions originate in inter-and intra-granular cavities, respectively. The depth of the cavities underneath the surface correlates well with the depth distributions of the retained deuterium. Trapping of significant amounts of deuterium therefore seems to take place in and/or close to these cavities and gives rise to an additional peak in the thermal desorption spectrum at 700 K.PACS numbers: 28.52.Fa, 28.52. Nh, 52.40.Hf, 52.77.Dq, 61.80.Jh, Submitted to: Nuclear Fusion Surface morphology and deuterium retention at high-flux deuterium plasmas 2

Magnum-PSI is an advanced linear plasma device uniquely capable of producing plasma conditions similar to those expected in the divertor of ITER both steady-state and transients. The machine is designed both for fundamental studies of plasma-surface interactions under high heat and particle fluxes, and as a high-heat flux facility for the tests of plasma-facing components under realistic plasma conditions. To study the effects of transient heat loads on a plasma-facing surface, a novel pulsed plasma source system as well as a high power laser are available. In this article, we will describe the capabilities of Magnum-PSI for high-heat flux tests of plasma-facing materials.

Samples of tungsten and tungsten-tantalum alloy (with 5 mass percent Ta) were exposed to high-flux deuterium plasma at different fluences. The surface modification was studied with scanning electron microscopy, and deuterium retention was measured by thermal desorption spectroscopy. In the high fluence range of ~3.5*10 26-10 27 m-2 the surface of the W samples exhibited heavy blistering, while blisters on the surface of W-Ta were considerably smaller in size and number. Deuterium retention in this fluence range was found to be systematically higher in W than in W-Ta. Correlation between the evolution of the blistering patterns and the TDS spectra as a function of fluence suggests that trapping in the sub-surface cavities associated with blisters is the predominant trapping mechanism in tungsten in case of high fluence exposures. We attribute the lower retention in W-Ta under the investigated conditions to the weaker blistering.

An advanced Thomson scattering system has been built for a linear plasma generator for plasma surface interaction studies. The Thomson scattering system is based on a Nd:YAG laser operating at the second harmonic and a detection branch featuring a high etendue (f /3) transmission grating spectrometer equipped with an intensified charged coupled device camera. The system is able to measure electron density (n e ) and temperature (T e ) profiles close to the output of the plasma source and, at a distance of 1.25 m, just in front of a target. The detection system enables to measure 50 spatial channels of about 2 mm each, along a laser chord of 95 mm. By summing a total of 30 laser pulses (0.6 J, 10 Hz), an observational error of 3% in n e and 6% in T e (at n e = 9.4 × 10 18 m −3 ) can be obtained. Single pulse Thomson scattering measurements can be performed with the same accuracy for n e > 2.8 × 10 20 m −3 . The minimum measurable density and temperature are n e < 1 × 10 17 m −3and T e < 0.07 eV, respectively. In addition, using the Rayleigh peak, superimposed on the Thomson scattered spectrum, the neutral density (n 0 ) of the plasma can be measured with an accuracy of 25% (at n 0 = 1 × 10 20 m −3 ). In this report, the performance of the Thomson scattering system will be shown along with unprecedented accurate Thomson-Rayleigh scattering measurements on a low-temperature argon plasma expansion into a low-pressure background.

A direct comparison of deuterium retention in samples of tungsten and two grades of tungsten-tantalum alloys-W1%Ta and W-5%Ta, exposed to deuterium plasmas (ion flux ∼10 24 m −2 s −1 , ion energy at the biased target ∼50 eV) at the plasma generator Pilot-PSI was performed using thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS). No systematic difference in terms of total retention in tungsten and tungsten-tantalum was identified. The measured retention value for each grade did not deviate by more than 24% from the value averaged over the three grades exposed to the same conditions. No additional desorption peaks appeared in the TDS spectra of the W-Ta samples as compared with the W target, indicating that no additional kinds of traps are introduced by the alloying of W with Ta. In the course of the experiment the same samples were exposed to the same plasma conditions several times, and it is demonstrated that samples with the history of prior exposures yield an increase in deuterium retention of up to 130% under the investigated conditions compared with the samples that were not exposed before. We consider this as evidence that exposure of the considered materials to ions with energy below the displacement threshold generates additional traps for deuterium. The positions of the release peaks caused by these traps are similar for W and W-Ta, which indicates that the corresponding traps are of the same kind.

We investigated the effect of surface temperature on deuterium retention in self-damaged tungsten exposed to high-flux deuterium plasmas. The retention saturates at a W 4+ fluence of about 3 × 10 17 m −2 and is strongly reduced for the present high surface temperatures of 800-1200 K as compared to previous experiments at 470-525 K. Combination of nuclear reaction analysis (NRA), thermal desorption spectroscopy and positron annihilation Doppler broadening (PADB) was used to investigate the reduction in deuterium retention. The NRA showed a strong reduction of retention at the surface at high surface temperatures. The PADB measurements suggest that during plasma exposure defects are mobile and cluster into larger clusters containing up to a few tens of vacancies. Tritium Migration Analysis Program 7 simulations show that trapping and de-trapping rates are very high for defects with trapping energies below ∼1.5 eV. The strong reduction in retention seems to be caused by the reduced amount of mono-vacancies and small vacancy clusters in combination with their strong depopulation due to thermal trapping and de-trapping.