Wave frequency dependence of H- ion production and extraction in a transformer coupled plasma H- ion source at SNU

Ion source research and development at University of Jyväskylä: Studies of different plasma processes and towards the higher beam intensities

Several ion source related research and development projects are in progress at the Department of Physics, University of Jyväskylä (JYFL). The work can be divided into investigation of the ion source plasma and development of ion sources, ion beams, and diagnostics. The investigation covers the Electron Cyclotron Resonance Ion Source (ECRIS) plasma instabilities, vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) and visible light emission, photon induced electron emission, and the development of plasma diagnostics. The ion source development covers the work performed for radiofrequency-driven negative ion source, RADIS, beam line upgrade of the JYFL 14 GHz ECRIS, and the development of a new room-temperature-magnet 18 GHz ECRIS, HIISI.

Development of a novel radio-frequency negative hydrogen ion source in conically converging configuration

Volume-produced negative ion source still requires enhancement of current density with lower input RF (radio-frequency) power in lower operating pressure for various applications. To confirm recent observation of efficient negative ion production with a short cylindrical chamber with smaller effective plasma size, the RF-driven transformer-coupled plasma H(-) ion source at Seoul National University is modified by adopting a newly designed quartz RF window to reduce the chamber length. Experiments with the reduced chamber length show a few times enhancement of H(-) ion beam current compared to that extracted from the previous chamber design, which is consistent with the measured H(-) ion population. Nevertheless, decrease in H(-) ion beam current observed in low pressure regime below ∼5 mTorr owing to insufficient filtering of high energy electrons in the extraction region needs to be resolved to address the usefulness of electron temperature control by the change of geometrical configuration of the discharge chamber. A new discharge chamber with conically converging configuration has been developed, in which the chamber diameter decreases as approaching to the extraction region away from the planar RF antenna such that stronger filter magnetic field can be utilized to prohibit high energy electrons from transporting to the extraction region. First experimental results for the H(-) ion beam extraction with this configuration show that higher magnetic filter field makes peak negative beam currents happen in lower operating pressure. However, overall decrease in H(-) ion beam current due to the change of chamber geometry still requires further study of geometrical effect on particle transport and optimization of magnetic field in this novel configuration.

Effects of discharge chamber length on the negative ion generation in volume-produced negative hydrogen ion source

In a volume-produced negative hydrogen ion source, control of electron temperature is essential due to its close correlation with the generation of highly vibrationally excited hydrogen molecules in the heating region as well as the generation of negative hydrogen ions by dissociative attachment in the extraction region. In this study, geometric effects of the cylindrical discharge chamber on negative ion generation via electron temperature changes are investigated in two discharge chambers with different lengths of 7.5 cm and 11 cm. Measurements with a radio-frequency-compensated Langmuir probe show that the electron temperature in the heating region is significantly increased by reducing the length of the discharge chamber due to the reduced effective plasma size. A particle balance model which is modified to consider the effects of discharge chamber configuration on the plasma parameters explains the variation of the electron temperature with the chamber geometry and gas pressure quite well. Accordingly, H(-) ion density measurement with laser photo-detachment in the short chamber shows a few times increase compared to the longer one at the same heating power depending on gas pressure. However, the increase drops significantly as operating gas pressure decreases, indicating increased electron temperatures in the extraction region degrade dissociative attachment significantly especially in the low pressure regime. It is concluded that the increase of electron temperature by adjusting the discharge chamber geometry is efficient to increase H(-) ion production as long as low electron temperatures are maintained in the extraction region in volume-produced negative hydrogen ion sources.