Spectroscopic measurement of increases in hydrogen molecular rotational temperature with plasma-facing surface temperature and due to collisional-radiative processes in tokamaks

Abstract

Spatially resolved rotational temperature of ground state hydrogen molecules desorbed from plasma-facing surface was measured in QUEST, LTX-β, and DIII-D tokamaks, and the increases of the rotational temperature with the surface temperature and due to collisional-radiative processes in the plasmas were evaluated. The increase due to collisional-radiative processes was calculated by solving rate equations considering electron and proton collisional excitation and deexcitation and spontaneous emission. The calculation results suggest a high sensitivity for the rotational temperature to electron and proton densities, but a negligible sensitivity to the electron, proton, and surface temperatures. In the three tokamaks with different plasma parameters and plasma facing surface materials, the spatial profile of the rotational temperature was estimated using Fulcher-α emission lines (600-608 nm). In QUEST, the spatial profile of the rotational temperature was estimated from spatially resolved spectra. In the other tokamaks, the rotational temperature was evaluated assuming a single point emission with a location determined from the Fulcher-α emission profile as measured with a filtered camera. In metal-walled devices QUEST and LTX-β, the rotational temperature increased with the surface temperature, and the calculated collisional-radiative increase is consistent with measured increase assuming that the rotational temperature at the surface is approximately 450 K higher than the surface temperature. In DIII-D with carbon walls, a larger collisional-radiative increase than the other tokamaks was observed because of the higher density leading to a large difference from the calculated increase compared to the other smaller tokamaks. Measurement of the Fulcher-α emission profile with higher spatial resolution in DIII-D may reduce the difference and reveal the effect of the surface temperature on the rotational temperature. These results shows the increases in the rotational temperature with the surface temperature and due to the collisional-radiative processes.

Investigations of atomic and molecular processes of NBI-heated discharges in the MAST Upgrade Super-X divertor with implications for reactors

“…The CRM results in Eirene are only valid for hydrogen, neglecting isotopical dependencies [57]. More complex CRMs [58,59], as well as dissociative attachment cross-section calculations [60], suggest that the rotational distribution may have to be considered. However, full rovibronically resolved calculations are far beyond the scope of the current state-of-the-art in exhaust modelling [27].…”