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This is an armor tile from the inner core of the Alcator C-Mod fusion reactor at MIT. It is made of molybdenum, a high-Z metal (with atomic # 42, nice!) and one of the highest melting points of the pure elements (4,753°F).
It shields the reactor walls from the heat flux not magnetically confined to the plasma. The reactor holds the record for the steepest temperature gradient in the solar system (dropping 1 million degrees within 2mm of magnetic confinement)!
When the reactor is cranking, molybdenum sputters off the tile, but ~80% of it redeposits within one gyration, reducing the net erosion. (from this thesis)
And congrats to CFS for winning 1/3 of the DOE commercial fusion awards this week.
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