Power balance and wall erosion measurements in a helicon plasma
- Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712 (United States)
- Department of Physics, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712 (United States)
The power balance measurements in a 1 kW argon helicon plasma discharge are demonstrated. The quantitative wall heat flux measurements using nonintrusive infrared imaging of the glass tube surface, along with data from bolometric probes and calibrated photodiodes to measure heat flux from the rest of the plasma, are shown. For the cylindrical discharge, with radius much less than the axial length, approximately 15% of 1 kW input power is lost in the transmission lines and matching network, 54% is lost through radial particle transport to the walls, 16% is lost through radiation, and 8% is lost through ion impact in the vicinity of the antenna. Wall erosion of the confining glass tube occurs due to sputter etching by ions accelerated in the electrostatic fields produced by the antenna. Wall etch rate measurements are used to quantify particle fluxes to the wall, which are in rough agreement with particle fluxes calculated from thermal flux.
- OSTI ID:
- 21347208
- Journal Information:
- Physics of Plasmas, Journal Name: Physics of Plasmas Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 17; ISSN PHPAEN; ISSN 1070-664X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Wall charging of a helicon antenna wrapped plasma filled dielectric tube
Transport modeling of convection dominated helicon discharges in Proto-MPEX with the B2.5-Eirene code