Experimental verification of ion impact angle distribution at divertor surfaces using micro-engineered targets on DiMES at DIII-D

•The first detailed experimental verification of polar ion impact angle distribution (IAD).•Specially fabricated micro-trenches were exposed to L-mode D plasmas at DIII-D DiMES.•Calculated polar and azimuthal IADs were combined with a Monte-Carlo MPR code.•MPR revealed the areal erosion yield on the trench floor due to D sputtering.•Good agreement between MPR erosion and EDS net C deposition profiles was seen.•Such agreement strongly verifies the IADs, and the modeling of the Chodura sheath.