Fusion fuel retention (trapping) and release (desorption) from plasma-facing components are critical issues for ITER and for any future industrial demonstration reactors such as DEMO. Therefore, understanding the fundamental mechanisms behind the retention of hydrogen isotopes in first wall and divertor materials is necessary. We developed an approach that couples dedicated experimental studies with modelling at all relevant scales, from microscopic elementary steps to macroscopic observables, in order to build a reliable and predictive fusion reactor wall model. This integrated approach is applied to the ITER divertor material (tungsten), and advances in the development of the wall model are presented. An experimental dataset, including focused ion beam scanning electron microscopy, isothermal desorption, temperature programmed desorption, nuclear reaction analysis and Auger electron spectroscopy, is exploited to initialize a macroscopic rate equation wall model. This model includes all elementary steps of modelled experiments: implantation of fusion fuel, fuel diffusion in the bulk or towards the surface, fuel trapping on defects and release of trapped fuel during a thermal excursion of materials. We were able to show that a single-trap-type single-detrapping-energy model is not able to reproduce an extended parameter space study of a polycrystalline sample exhibiting a single desorption peak. It is therefore justified to use density functional theory to guide the initialization of a more complex model. This new model still contains a single type of trap, but includes the density functional theory findings that the detrapping energy varies as a function of the number of hydrogen isotopes bound to the trap. A better agreement of the model with experimental results is obtained when grain boundary defects are included, as is consistent with the polycrystalline nature of the studied sample. Refinement of this grain boundary model is discussed as well as the inclusion in the model Nuclear Fusion

Thin tungsten oxide layers with thicknesses up to 250 nm have been formed on W surfaces by thermal oxidation following a parabolic growth rate. The reflectance of the layers in the IR range 2.5 -16 µm has been measured showing a decrease with the layer thickness especially at low wavelength. Raman microscopy and X-ray diffraction show a nanocrystalline WO3 monoclinic structure. Low energy deuterium plasma exposure (11 eV/D + ) has been performed inducing a phase transition, a change in the sample colour and the formation of tungsten bronze (DxWO3). Implantation modifies the whole layer suggesting a deep diffusion of deuterium inside the oxide. After exposure a deuterium release due to the oxidation of DxWO3 under ambient conditions has been evidenced showing a reversible deuterium retention.

We report for the first time on the ability of Raman microscopy to give information on the structure and composition of Be related samples mimicking plasma facing materials that will be found in ITER. For that purpose, we investigate two types of material. First: Be, W, Be 1 W 9 , and Be 5 W 5 deposits containing a few percents of D or N, and second: a Mo mirror exposed to plasma in the main JET chamber (in the framework of the first mirror test in JET with ITER-like wall). We performed atomic quantifications using ion beam analysis for the first samples. We also did atomic force microscopy. We found defect induced Raman bands in Be, Be 1 W 9 , and Be 5 W 5 deposits. Molybdenum oxide has been identified showing an enhancement due to a resonance effect in the UV domain.

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Nanocrystalline tungsten oxide (WO 3) thin films synthesized by thermal oxidation of tungsten substrates were exposed to low energy helium ions (energy: 80 eV; flux: 1.4-1.7×10 20 m-2 s-1) at room temperature and at 673 K. The structure and morphology changes of the oxide were studied using Raman spectroscopy and electron microscopy. Due to the low ion energy, no erosion is observed at room temperature. On the contrary, at 673 K, a colour change is observed and a significant erosion is measured (~ 70 nm for a fluence of ~ 4×10 21 m-2) due to a synergetic effect between ion bombardment and heating. We show that erosion processes and structural changes strongly depend on the ion fluence and in particular the higher the fluence, the lower the erosion yield, most likely due to oxygen depletion in the oxide near-surface layers.

This study demonstrates that Raman microscopy is a suitable technique for future post mortem analyses of JET and ITER plasma facing components. We focus here on laboratory deposited and bombarded samples of beryllium and beryllium carbides and start to build a reference spectral databases for fusion relevant beryllium-based materials. We identified the beryllium phonon density of states, its second harmonic and E 2G and B 2G second harmonic and combination modes for defective beryllium in the spectral range 300-700 and 700-1300 cm -1 , lying close to Be-D modes of beryllium hydrides. We also identified beryllium carbide signature, Be 2 C, combining Raman microscopy and DFT calculation. We have shown that, depending on the optical constants of the material probed, in depth sensitivity at the nanometer scale can be performed using different wavelengths. This way, we demonstrate that multi-wavelength Raman microscopy is sensitive to in-depth stress caused by ion implantation (down to ≈30 nm under the surface for Be) and Be/C concentration (down to 400 nm or more under the surface for Be+C), which is a main contribution of this work. The depth resolution reached can then be adapted for studying the supersaturated surface layer found on tokamak deposits.2

International audiencePost mortem analyses of dust collected in Alcator C-Mod have highlighted a production of large size dust particles. The quantities of such large particles are higher than in any other tokamak. They are divided in two classes as a function of their shape and consequently, their origin. Rounded dust particles such as spheres and splashes constitute the first class. These particles are the result of high heat loads on various leading edges of plasma facing components and possibly, their melting during plasma operation. The heated or already molten material can be destabilized during disruptions and droplets are emitted across the vacuum chamber. After solidification, the resulting rounded particles are either in pure elements or in alloys. Flake-like dust particles, which are mainly due to light material coating delamination, constitute the second class of dust particles

The bulk quaternary equiatomic CoCrFeNi alloy is studied extensively in literature. Under experimental conditions, it shows a single-phase fcc structure and its physical and mechanical properties are similar to those of the quinary equiatomic CoCrFeMnNi alloy. Many studies in literature have focused on the mechanical properties of bulk nanocrystalline high entropy alloys or compositionally complex alloys, and their microstructure evolution upon annealing. The thin film processing route offers an excellent alternative to form nanocrystalline alloys. Due to the high nucleation rate and high density of defects in thin films synthesized by sputtering, the kinetics of microstructure evolution is often accelerated compared to those taking place in the bulk. Here, thin films are used to study the phase evolution in nanocrystalline CoCrFeNi deposited on Si/SiO 2 and c-sapphire substrates by magnetron cosputtering from elemental sources. The phases and microstructure of the films are discussed in comparison to the bulk alloy. The main conclusion is that second phases can form even at room temperature provided there are sufficient nucleation sites.