Colorimetry was introduced into the DIII-D tokamak to measure in situ the growth and erosion of transparent wall coatings (a-C:H) on the divertor. The colorimetric measurement system consisting of a halogen light source, a set of three filters and a black/white camera is described together with a first erosion measurement. An insertable graphite sample with a diameter of 4.7 cm was precoated with a 300 nm thick amorphous carbon film and was exposed in the divertor for several discharges with its surface coplanar to the surrounding graphite tiles. For each of the discharges the plasma strike point was moved onto the sample for 1 s to erode the coating. Between the discharges a camera signal with each filter was recorded and the film thickness was evaluated along a radial line across the DIMES sample. Thus it has been possible for the first time to measure erosion and deposition of divertor material in situ and shot-by-shot. The average peak heat flux with the strike point on DIMES was about 110 W . The measurement shows a strong decrease in the film thickness almost over the entire sample with an average erosion rate of .
In-situ coating of silicon-rich films on tokamak plasma-facing components with real-time Si material injection