Neutral gas compression in the helical divertor with a baffle structure in the LHD heliotron

Abstract

The helical divertor in the Large Helical Device (LHD) was partially modified before the experimental campaign in 2010 to demonstrate the ability of particle control by installing a baffle structure. The baffle structure consists of water cooled divertor plates combined with baffle plates and a dome in the private region. The neutral pressures in the modified and an existing unmodified helical divertors have been measured by using fast ion gauges during the campaign. The recycled neutral gas was successfully compressed in the modified divertor during discharges, and more than ten times higher pressure was observed there than in the unmodified divertor as expected from the neutral transport calculations. © 2011 The Japan Society of Plasma Science and Nuclear Fusion Research.