17–22 May 2026
marinaforum REGENSBURG
Europe/Berlin timezone

4.075 Radiation Dependence on Divertor Leg Length in Detachment on DIII-D

22 May 2026, 09:50
2h 30m
Poster G. Power Exhaust, Plasma Detachment and Heat Load Control Postersession 4

Speaker

Morgan Shafer (ORNL)

Description

Experiments performed on DIII-D demonstrate that extending the outer divertor leg allows for expanding the volume for impurity and hydrogenic/fuel radiation as required for dissipation in detachment. This is roughly in line with convective transport estimates although deep detachment can trend toward the peak radiation moving to the X-point. Convective estimates relate the spatial scale for dominant radiating impurities (e.g., C or N on DIII-D) for H-mode conditions with 6 MW of injected power suggest approximately 20 cm of divertor leg length is necessary for adequate dissipation. The radiated power is found to extend along the outer leg at approximately this scale in detachment in small core-volume DIII-D plasmas at 1MA and 2T with an elongated outer leg as measured by CIII (465 nm) emission and total radiated power. With increasing density, the strong peak in CIII radiation at the target pulls away with some target radiation remaining transiently due to ELMs. The radiating volume can ultimately collapse to the X-point pushing the divertor into deep detachment. SOLPS-ITER simulations similarly show an extended radiation pattern along the outer leg at detachment onset and into the detached state with it being pushed deeper toward the X-point at higher density. Future devices may allow for little to no core degradation when coupled to a detached divertor, thus determining the effectiveness of volumetric radiation for dissipation is crucial.
This work was supported in part by the US Department of Energy under DE-AC05-00OR22725, DE-AC52-07NA27344, and DE-FC02-04ER54698.

Author

Morgan Shafer (ORNL)

Co-authors

Adam McLean (LLNL) Anthony Leonard (General Atomics) Filippo Scotti Jonathan Yu (General Atomics) Robert Wilcox (Oak Ridge National Laboratory)

Presentation materials

There are no materials yet.