Behavior of 23S metastable state He atoms in low-temperature recombining plasmas

We measured the electron density and temperature using laser Thomson scattering and metastable state (23S) of He atoms by laser absorption spectroscopy in the detached recombining plasmas in the divertor simulator NAGDIS-II. Using the measured electron density and temperature combined with the particle trajectory trace simulation, we discussed the behavior of the metastable state He atoms based on comparisons with the experimental results. It is shown that the metastable state atoms are mainly produced in the peripheral region of the plasma column, where the temperature is lower than the central part, and diffused in the vacuum vessel. It was shown that the 0D model is not valid and the transport of the metastable states is to be taken into account for the population distribution of He atoms in the detached plasmas.