Development of an Electrostatic Dust Detector for use in a Tokamak Reactor

Initial results from a novel device to detect dust particles settling on remote surfaces are presented. Dust particle inventories are a concern in next-step fusion devices. The increase in duty cycle will lead to a scale-up in the amount of particles generated by plasma material interactions. These particles will be chemically and radiologically hazardous and it will be important to establish that the in-vessel particle inventory is within regulatory limits. The detection device consists of two interlocking combs of closely spaced conductive traces on a Teflon circuit board. When a DC bias is applied impinging dust creates a transient short circuit between the traces. The increase in bias current generates a signal pulse that is counted by standard nuclear counting electronics. We present data on the response of the device in air and vacuum to carbon particles