Discharge power dependence of carbon dust flux in a divertor simulator

In fusion devices, dust particles are generated due to plasma–wall interactions and may cause safety or operational problems. Therefore it is necessary to clarify the generation and transport mechanisms of dust particles. Here we have measured energy influx from H2 plasmas toward a graphite target using a calorimetric probe and compared the results with the dust flux toward a dust collecting substrate set on the reactor wall. The dust flux decreases with increasing the energy influx. For the higher discharge power, the more number of dust particles tend to redeposit onto the graphite target due to the higher ion drag force and hence the dust flux toward the reactor wall becomes smaller. The results show that dust inventory depends strongly on energy influx to graphite divertor plates in fusion devices.