Investigations on caesium-free alternatives for H{sup −} formation at ion source relevant parameters
- Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik, Boltzmannstr. 2, 85748 Garching (Germany)
Negative hydrogen ions are efficiently produced in ion sources by the application of caesium. Due to a thereby induced lowering of the work function of a converter surface a direct conversion of impinging hydrogen atoms and positive ions into negative ions is maintained. However, due to the complex caesium chemistry and dynamics a long-term behaviour is inherent for the application of caesium that affects the stability and reliability of negative ion sources. To overcome these drawbacks caesium-free alternatives for efficient negative ion formation are investigated at the flexible laboratory setup HOMER (HOMogenous Electron cyclotron Resonance plasma). By the usage of a meshed grid the tandem principle is applied allowing for investigations on material induced negative ion formation under plasma parameters relevant for ion source operation. The effect of different sample materials on the ratio of the negative ion density to the electron density n{sub H{sup −}} /n{sub e} is compared to the effect of a stainless steel reference sample and investigated by means of laser photodetachment in a pressure range from 0.3 to 3 Pa. For the stainless steel sample no surface induced effect on the negative ion density is present and the measured negative ion densities are resulting from pure volume formation and destruction processes. In a first step the dependency of n{sub H{sup −}} /n{sub e} on the sample distance has been investigated for a caesiated stainless steel sample. At a distance of 0.5 cm at 0.3 Pa the density ratio is 3 times enhanced compared to the reference sample confirming the surface production of negative ions. In contrast for the caesium-free material samples, tantalum and tungsten, the same dependency on pressure and distance n{sub H{sup −}} /n{sub e} like for the stainless steel reference sample were obtained within the error margins: A density ratio of around 14.5% is measured at 4.5 cm sample distance and 0.3 Pa, linearly decreasing with decreasing distance to 7% at 1.5 cm. Thus, tantalum and tungsten do not significantly affect the negative ion density. First measurements conducted with LaB{sub 6} as well as with two types of diamond like carbon (DLC) n{sub H{sup −}} /n{sub e} of about 15% at 1 Pa were measured, which is comparable to the density ratio obtained for the stainless steel reference sample. At HOMER a surface induced enhancement of n{sub H{sup −}} is only observed when it exceeds the volume formation of H{sup −} which is also realistic for negative hydrogen ion sources.
- OSTI ID:
- 22391396
- Journal Information:
- AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 1655, Issue 1; Conference: NIBS 2014: 4. International Symposium on Negative Ions, Beams and Sources, Garching (Germany), 6-10 Oct 2014; Other Information: (c) 2015 U.S. Government; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-243X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
GENERAL PHYSICS
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
CATIONS
CESIUM
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
ELECTRON CYCLOTRON-RESONANCE
ELECTRON DENSITY
HYDROGEN IONS 1 MINUS
ION SOURCES
LANTHANUM BORIDES
LASER RADIATION
PLASMA
STAINLESS STEELS
SURFACES
TANTALUM
TUNGSTEN
WORK FUNCTIONS