Experimental simulation of materials degradation of plasma-facing components using lasers

The damage and erosion of plasma-facing components (PFCs) due to extremely high heat loads and particle bombardment is a key issue for the nuclear fusion community. Currently high current ion and electron beams are used in laboratories for simulating the behaviour of PFC materials under ITER-like conditions. Our results indicate that high-power nanosecond lasers can be used for laboratory simulation of high heat flux PFC material degradation. We exposed tungsten (W) surfaces with repetitive laser pulses from a nanosecond laser with a power density ~ a few GW cm−2. Emission spectroscopic analysis showed that plasma features at early times followed by intense particle emission at later times. Analysis of laser-exposed W surface demonstrated cracks and grain structures. Our results indicate that the typical particle emission features from laser-irradiated tungsten are consistent with high-power particle beam simulation results.