An assessment of the lifetime of Faraday shield elements

The interaction of plasma with RF fields from an ion cyclotron range of frequencies (ICRF) antenna has been studied to estimate the amount of Faraday shield erosion expected in normal ICRF heating (ICRH) operation. Plasma parameters and ion energies have been measured in the near field of an antenna and used in a model to estimate the erosion rate of the Faraday shield surface. Experiments were conducted on the RF Test Facility (RFTF), a magnetic mirror device at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), using a single-strap resonant loop antenna with a two-tier Faraday shield. Plasma parameters and ion energies have been correlated with the antenna current and used in a computational model of the plasma sheath to predict the amount of erosion expected from the Faraday shield elements exposed to plasma. Predictions of light-ion sputtering of candidate Faraday shield materials are presented.>