Extinction of CD band emission in the divertor of ASDEX Upgrade

We found a complete extinction of the CD molecule emission in the inboard divertor of ASDEX Upgrade at high density with the transition to a recombining divertor plasma. The electron temperature in the recombining divertor plasma ranges from 1.2 down to 0.3 eV. Two effects may explain the extinction at such low temperatures, (1) a steep decay of the yield for chemical sputtering as theoretically predicted and (2) a suppression of the optical emission while the methane molecules dissociate unchanged via charge exchange.