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A novel carbon coating technique for foil bolometers
U A Sheikh1, B P Duval1, B Labit1
1Swiss Plasma Center, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne 1016, Switzerland.
The Review of Scientific Instruments
|December 3, 2016
Summary
Researchers developed a new coating for gold foil bolometers to improve energy measurement accuracy. Carbon-coated bolometers measured 13-15% more incident power, enhancing plasma diagnostics.
Area of Science:
- Plasma physics
- Materials science
- Diagnostic instrumentation
Background:
- Naked foil bolometers reflect significant incident energy, limiting absolute measurement accuracy.
- Accurate energy measurement is crucial for understanding plasma behavior and fusion energy research.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and evaluate a novel coating method for gold foil bolometers to enhance their energy absorption.
- To improve the accuracy of absolute energy measurements in plasma diagnostics.
Main Methods:
- A physical vapor deposition technique was used to apply a carbon coating (100+ nm) onto gold foil bolometers.
- An experimental setup with collimated bolometers was used to measure incident power from an ohmically heated plasma.
Main Results:
- Coated bolometers demonstrated a 13%-15% increase in measured incident power compared to uncoated ones.
- Preliminary results indicate a significant improvement in energy absorption efficiency.
Conclusions:
- The novel carbon coating effectively reduces energy reflection, enhancing the performance of gold foil bolometers.
- This improved diagnostic capability is expected to be particularly beneficial for future experiments, such as detached divertor studies.
