Solid/Liquid Divertor Experiment (SLIDE)

The Solid/Liquid Divertor Experiment (SLIDE) is a high vacuum experiment aimed to test a variety of divertor concepts developed at the Center for Plasma Material Interactions. An electron beam is used to replicate the heat flux produced in the divertor region of fusion devices. Beam shape and peak intensity can be controlled be changing the magnetic field in the device. SLIDE has tested a variety of divertor concepts and most recently has been used for testing the Liquid Metal Infused Trenches (LIMIT) technology. LIMIT utilizes thermo-electric magnetohydrodynamics to drive the flow when a heat flux (thermal gradient) is applied to the surface. This technology aims to provide a constant, clean liquid lithium surface to the fusion divertor which can handle the massive heat flux in fusion devices and consistently provide the plasma performance benefits of lithium. Recently, work has been done to test the heat flux handling of a variety of different tile geometries, including 3D printed trench designs. In the near future, SLIDE will be incorporated in the Actively Pumped Open-surface Lithium Loop (APOLLO) to demonstrate LIMIT’s ability to be used in a full flowing loop system.