Observation of impurity ions during a plasma translation experiment in nested Penning traps

Abstract

Charged-particle nested traps are considered to be free from impurity-charged particles. However, that is not always the case. We show that in addition to the original ions, charged particles are generated in nested traps during the plasma translation experiments. This study demonstrates electrons being accelerated by a pair of positive potential wells in a nested trap as soon as they are translated from the adjacent trap. The accelerated electrons cause ionization of the residual gas on impact and produce ions in addition to the ions already present in the nested trap. Well-known ions such as H2+, H2O+, and N2+, were also detected. We also explore methods for reducing experimental errors due to such impurity ions.