Efficiency investigation of a negative hydrogen ion beam production with the use of the gasdynamic ECR plasma source

Abstract

Negative hydrogen ion sources are of great demand in modern physics as injectors into accelerators and drivers for neutral beam injectors for fusion devices. It has been shown earlier that the use of the gasdynamic ECR discharge provides the opportunity to extract up to 80 mA/cm2 of negative ion current density. We studied experimentally the volumetric negative hydrogen ion production and vacuum ultraviolet emission in a gasdynamic ECR discharge. The high-density plasma was sustained by the pulsed 37 GHz / 100 kW gyrotron radiation in a magnetic configuration consisting of two consecutive simple mirror traps. The future prospects of the volumetric H– source based on the gasdynamic ECR discharge related to the transition from pulsed to continuous operating mode with the use of an improved magnetic confinement system are discussed. Numerical simulation of the negative hydrogen ion beam extraction at the continuous operating mode facility was performed. Optimal configuration of the extraction electrodes and the electron damping magnets was found.