Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy for helium detection in beryllium coatings

Indrek Jõgi* (Corresponding Author), Peeter Paris, Jasper Ristkok, Alicia Marin Roldán, Pavitra Ganapati Bhat, Pavel Veis, Juuso Karhunen, Salvatore Almaviva, Wojciech Gromelski, Paul Dinca, Corneliu Porosnicu, Iva Bogdanović Radović, Zdravko Siketić, Paweł Gąsior, Jari Likonen, Antti Hakola

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

    2 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) method is considered to be a promising tool for analyzing the retention of hydrogen isotopes (D and T) and helium (He) on the first walls and divertor regions of future fusion reactors. Helium will be produced in DT reactions but could also be used in the initial non-nuclear phases of DEMO concepts. The present study investigates the He detection by LIBS method in the Be coatings simulating the deposits on the divertor plasma-facing components of JET while the results are also relevant for He detection in the deposits of other wall materials. The study was carried out in a vacuum vessel filled with 2–40 mbar argon background gas. It was shown that 2.8 at. % of He was confidently detectable by LIBS at optimized measurement conditions and the estimated limit of detection at used experimental conditions is approximately 0.7 at. %. The intensity of the He emission line at 587.56 nm was the strongest at the center of the laser-induced plasma plume. The He line intensity increased with the pressure of Ar gas but the broadening of the He line and the increase of the background emission and noise set an upper limit to the Ar background pressure usable for He detection. The application of the calibration-free LIBS procedure resulted in the overestimation of the He/Be ratio by several orders of magnitude. The overestimation can be explained by the deviation of LIBS plasma from the local thermodynamic equilibrium, which is caused by the very high excitation energy of He atoms.

    Original languageEnglish
    Article number101677
    Number of pages8
    JournalNuclear Materials and Energy
    Volume39
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Jun 2024
    MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

    Keywords

    • Be coatings
    • He retention
    • LIBS

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