The plasma-surface interface composes one of the most interesting and important fields of study in plasma physics, and in the application of plasma physics to magnetic confinement fusion research. Both the plasma and the material surface simultaneously change characteristics due to their interaction, and affect each other in a complex, nonlinear manner. This dynamic interaction leads to several effects, such as net erosion of plasma-facing surfaces, tritium retention in deposit layers and plasma impurity contamination, which are all estimated to limit the viability of long-pulse plasma fusion devices. However, in general, these phenomena remain relatively poorly understood, primarily due to the lack of proper plasma-surface diagnosis.

Experiment

Three dimensional drawing of the Dionisos chamber. Ion accelerator injects and steers beam through port on left. The chamber uses a plasma generator and magnets to confine the plasma column to the target vicinity. Various high energy ion beams will be used to analyze sample surface evolution under the influence of magnetically confined plasmas.	The Dionisos experiment and instruments, conceptual schematic drawing.