Dust particle formation due to interaction between graphite and helicon deuterium plasmas

The collection of dust particles using divertor simulation helicon plasmas has been carried out to examine dust formation due to the interaction between a graphite target and deuterium plasmas, which are planned to operate in the large helical device (LHD) at the Japanese National Institute for Fusion Science (NIFS). The collected dust particles are classified into three types: (i) small spherical particles below 400 nm in size, (ii) agglomerates whose primary particles have a size of about 10 nm, and (iii) large flakes above 1 μm in size. These features are quite similar to those obtained through hydrogen plasma operation, indicating that the dust formation mechanisms due to the interaction between a carbon wall and a plasma of deuterium, which is the isotope of hydrogen, is probably similar to those of hydrogen.