Ion charge state distributions of pulsed vacuum arc plasmas in strong magnetic fields

Abstract

Vacuum arc plasmas with discharge currents of 300 A and duration 250 μs have been produced in strong magnetic fields up to 4 T. Ion charge state distributions have been measured for C, Al, Ag, Ta, Pt, Ho, and Er with a time-of-flight charge-mass spectrometer. Our previous measurements have been confirmed which show that ion charge states can be considerably enhanced when increasing the magnetic field up to about 1 T. The new measurements address the question of whether or not the additional increase continues at even higher magnetic field strength. It has been found that the increase becomes insignificant for field strengths greater than 1 T. Ion charge state distributions are almost constant for magnetic field strengths between 2 and 4 T. The results are explained by comparing the free expansion length with the freezing length. The most significant changes of charge state distributions are observed when these lengths are similar.