Space Charge Neutralization in the ITER Negative Ion Beams

Abstract

A model of the space charge neutralization of negative ion beams, developed from the model due to Holmes, is applied to the ITER heating and diagnostic beams. The Holmes model assumed that the plasma electron temperature was derived from the stripped electrons. This is shown to be incorrect for the ITER beams and the plasma electron temperature is obtained from the average creation energy upon ionization. The model shows that both ITER beams will be fully space charge compensated in the drift distance between the accelerator and the neutralizer. Inside the neutralizer, the plasma over compensates the space charge to the extent that a significant focusing force is predicted. At a certain position in the neutraliser this force balances the defocusing force due to the ions’ transverse energy. Under these conditions the beam distribution function can change from Gaussian to Bennett and evidence of such a distribution observed in a multi‐aperture, neutralized negative ion beam is presented.