Divertor plasmas have been simulated by using linear devices with detached divertor regimes that have been recognized as a standard operation mode in magnetic confinement devices. Here, we report the discovery of the periodical macroscopic motion of an ionized front in a closed divertor regime!).. The experiment was carried out in the linear divertor simulator TPD-II at NIFS (see Fig. 1) 1) The helium plasma was continuously generated by dc discharge between the anode and the LaB6 cathode (discharge current is 100 A). Typical plasma ~arameters were following: electron density is 10 One can see that the ionized front moves periodically in and out of the D-region. The extent of the movement is -0.5 m. The period is -8 s for the present case. The neutral pressures measured at the D-and E-regions (Po and P E ) are shown in Figs. 3(a) and 3(b), respectively. Vertical lines of t1-t4 in Fig.3 denote each phase which corresponds to the phase indicated respectively as tl-t4 in Fig.2. Following the variation of Po from tl as a beginning, we can see that Po increases until t3. In this stage the ionized front moves toward the upstream of the plasma flow (see Fig.2). At t3 P D reaches its maximum value, and the ionized front moves into the E-region. After t3, Po decreases immediately while P E increases drastically, indicating that the neutral gas accumulated in the D-region flows into the E-region. When Po is reduced to half of its maximum value (at t4), the ionized front comes into the D-region again.
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