Spectroscopic characterization and imaging of laser- and unipolar arc-induced plasmas

Tungsten plasmas induced by unipolar arcs were investigated using optical emission spectroscopy and imaging, and compared with laser-induced tungsten plasmas. The unipolar arcs were initiated in the linear-plasma simulator PISCES-A at UCSD under fusion relevant conditions. The electron temperature and density of the unipolar arc plasmas were in the range 0.5–0.7 eV and 0.7–2.0 × 1020 m−3, respectively, and increased with increasing negative bias voltage, but did not correlate with the surface temperature. In comparison, the electron temperature and density of the laser-induced plasmas were in the range 0.6–1.4 eV and 7 × 1019–1 × 1022 m−3, respectively.