Compatibility of the radiating divertor with high performance plasmas in DIII-D

A radiating divertor approach was successfully applied to high performance ‘hybrid’ plasmas [M.R. Wade et al., in: Proceedings of the 20th IAEA Fusion Energy Conference, Vilamoura, Portugal, 2004]. Our techniques included: (1) injecting argon near the outer divertor target, (2) enhancing the plasma flow into the inner and outer divertors by a combination of particle pumping and deuterium gas puffing upstream of the divertor targets, and (3) isolating the inner divertor from the outer by a structure in the private flux region. Good hybrid conditions were maintained, as the peak heat flux at the outer divertor target was reduced by a factor of 2.5; the peak heat flux at the inner target decreased by 20%. This difference was caused by a higher concentration of argon at the outer target than at the inner target. Argon accumulation in the main plasma was modest (nAr/ne ⩽ 0.004 on axis), although the argon profile was more peaked than the electron profile.