Surface chemical/binding reaction of coated Li layer by lithium vapor injectors in LIGHT-1

The Lithium Injection Gettering of Hydrogen and its Transport (LIGHT-1) experiment has begun at the NIFS. To study the material probes installed in the cylindrical vacuum chamber, the chemical characteristics for lithium are analyzed using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The characteristics of chemical binding between lithium and other impurities are shown to be oxide bindings. In addition, the influence of the vacuum vent effect due to exposure to air was determined in both solid lithium and lithium-coated probes in LIGHT-1. Using the peak positions of Li2O and pure lithium, the thickness of the coated lithium is estimated. For the SS316 target, the coated lithium shows two different peaks, Li1s and Fe3p, located at a similar binding energy region. Thus, the real lithium intensities can be measured by the separation of the peaks. After this analysis, the coated thickness of lithium is estimated to be from 8 to 20 nm, and it is not uniform in the Z-axis direction, probably due to erosion by glow discharge.