Аннотация:The performance of the frontend elements of optical diagnostics in ITER under long-term
operation and with limited access for their maintenance is in the focus of extensive R&D
programme involving laboratory study and testing in working tokamaks. The requirements
to the frontend element design are driven by high-energy neutron and
-radiation, intense
particle fluxes and thermal loads at the element location on the one hand and necessity
to provide periodic or continuous surface recovery on another. The insulating diagnostic
window as an alternative to commonly accepted first mirror option is discussed in the pre-
sentation. The approach implementation is illustrated for the divertor Thomson scattering
(DTS) optical scheme using frontend windows for injection of laser beam and collecting of
scattered light. Surface recovery techniques based on plasma cleaning and laser ablation
are described with the focus on the performance of the windows under laser and plasma
treatment. The windows made from fused silica glass KU-1 and Al2O3 were tested. Plasma
cleaning experiments have been performed for clean windows and windows coated with Al
films. As was shown by the means of optical microscopy, XPS and AFMthe dominant mech-
anism of window optical degradation is surface roughening. The development of surface
relief becomes more intensive after deposition and removal of Al. The clear indication of the
dependence of surface degradation rate on the initial polishing quality was also obtained
for the windows with and without Al deposition. Laser experiments reveal the decrease
in laser-induced damage threshold by the factor of 3 for both window materials under
continuous tungsten deposition. In the case of Al droplets spraying, damage threshold is
about 6 times as low as that of pure KU-1 window. The experiments on the long-term laser
cleaning under continuous contamination showed that the evolution of tungsten film stops
over the first hundreds of pulses and further exposition has no effect on the film thickness.
The steady-state thickness of tungsten deposit in the beam spot was found to be 5 nm for
the deposition rate of 10 nm/min and laser (3 ns) energy density of 2 J/cm2
, forming
almost transparent coating in visible and near-IR regions. Radiation-induced effects in silica
glass and sapphire and corresponding limitations are also discussed.