Removal of the deposition on JT-60 tile by nano-sec pulsed-laser irradiation

To clarify the property of tritium removal from carbon codeposition by using pulsed-laser induced desorption, hydrogen removal from co-deposits on JT-60 divertor tile using a fourth-harmonic emission (266 nm) of a nano-sec Nd:YAG laser was demonstrated. The threshold laser fluence for ablation was ∼0.3 J/cm2, which was slightly higher compared to that of the pico-sec laser irradiation. The energy absorption coefficient for the nano-sec laser, which was obtained by fitting the removal rate by so-called Beer's law, was larger than the pico-sec laser. Since the time constant of thermal wave propagation into the target is of the order of nano-sec, such differences between nano- and pico-sec lasers could be attributed to thermal effects. The ablation threshold of the deposited layer was lower than that of a pure graphite, which could be attributed to the difference of thermal conductivity between deposited layer and pure graphite. The removal rate of the nano-sec laser was higher than that of pico-sec laser in the fluence range of >∼0.5 J/cm2. On the other hand, the production ratio [hydrocarbon species]/[H2] continuously increased with the laser fluence, and no significant ionization of carbon was observed in this fluence range. This indicated that the fluence range in this study was “weak”-ablation range, which was still not sufficient to minimize the hydrocarbon production.