Atomic Data for Vapour Shielding in Fusion Devices

When wall material is rapidly evaporated or ablated by an energetic plume of hot plasma, a dense expanding plasma cloud is formed in front of the surface. In this dense plasma the incoming energy may largely be converted from fast particle kinetic energy into electromagnetic radiation directed away from the surface, thereby shielding the wall from further damage.

This CRP focuses on the provision of fundamental atomic and molecular data to accurately model the vapour shielding phenomenon, with particular focus on novel liquid metal walls that have been proposed for use in magnetic confinement fusion devices. The first Research Coordination Meeting for this CRP was held from 13 – 15 March 2019, and the project is expected to run for 3 – 4 years.