Measurement of electron temperature and density in the DIII-D neutral beam ion source arc chamber

Abstract

A swept-bias Langmuir probe diagnostic was employed with the DIII-D neutral beam ion source in an effort to study the effects of filament temperature, arc power, and backstreaming energetic electrons on the electron temperature and density of the arc discharge inside the ion source arc chamber. The arc chamber contains six Langmuir probes biased with at negative DC voltage. These probes provide a feedback signal for regulation of the arc power supply and give a relative indication of plasma uniformity within the arc chamber. For this study, one probe was reconnected to a voltage-sweeping power supply, and probe current versus voltage characteristics were generated. These characteristics provided the information necessary to calculate electron temperature and density. With arc discharge only, the results demonstrated that as filament temperature increases, so does electron density. Electron temperature decreases at a faster rate, however, as required to maintain constant ion saturation current (regulated by the arc power supply). The results also demonstrated that increasing arc power (through control of the arc power supply) results in higher electron temperature and density. Experiments were also performed with probe voltage sweeps during beam extraction, at various accelerator voltage levels and at different delay times after beam turn-on with a fixed acceleration voltage. These results indicated an increase in electron temperature and density its acceleration voltage is increased. However, nearly identical trends result when arc discharges are produced at the same parameter settings as during these beams, but without beam extraction. This indicates minimal influence of backstreaming energetic electrons on electron temperature and density in the arc chamber. Temperature and density also remain fairly constant over time during a long beam pulse. These results help to provide a better understanding of ion source dynamics, and may lead to future improvements in operation.