Divertor

thumb|Interior of Alcator C-Mod showing the lower divertor channel at the bottom of the torus thumb|Divertor design for K-DEMO, a planned future tokamak experiment thumb|Divertor of COMPASS tokamak|COMPASS

In magnetic confinement fusion, a divertor is a device which extracts heat and ash from fusion plasmas by averting direct contact between the confined plasma and the main chamber wall (plasma-wall interactions). A magnetic divertor typically involves creating a separatrix-bounded magnetic topology using special magnetic coils. Particles and heat diffusing outward from the main plasma are diverted and follow the 'open' magnetic field lines to strike dedicated plasma-facing components.