Performance of ITER pressure gauges during deuterium operation in the large helical device

During deuterium campaigns on the heliotron large helical device (LHD), ITER pressure gauges with different cathode materials were used to measure the neutral pressure in the sub-divertor region. Throughout these campaigns, it was observed that the performance of a LaB6 cathode was unsatisfactory during deuterium operation. Conversely, measurements taken with pressure gauges with a ZrC cathode performed well throughout the deuterium pulses. The ITER pressure gauge with the ZrC cathode could be operated with a very high electron current of 800 µA, thus improving the lower detection limit of the neutral pressure in LHD. With this design it was also possible to avoid jumps in the ion current within strong magnetic fields, improving the accuracy of the measurement from 15% uncertainty to 5%. These features allowed very precise neutral pressure measurements to be made in a fusion device with magnetic confinement. The problems with the lifetime of the ZrC cathode reported in Mackel et al (2023 Fusion Eng. Des.189 113439) were not relevant here, as the total runtime in the magnetic field was about 60 h, less than the expected lifetime of the cathode of 350 h.