Spatial distribution of the charged particles and potentials during beam extraction in a negative-ion source

Abstract

We report on the characteristics of the electronegative plasma in a large-scale hydrogen negative ion (H(-)) source. The measurement has been made with a time-resolved Langmuir probe installed in the beam extraction region. The H(-) density is monitored with a cavity ring-down system to identify the electrons in the negative charges. The electron-saturation current decreases rapidly after starting to seed Cs, and ion-ion plasma is observed in the extraction region. The H(-) density steps down during the beam extraction and the electron density jumps up correspondingly. The time integral of the decreasing H(-) charge density agrees well with the electron charge collected with the probe. The agreement of the charges is interpreted to indicate that the H(-) density decreasing at the beam extraction is compensated by the electrons diffusing from the driver region. In the plasmas with very low electron density, the pre-sheath of the extraction field penetrates deeply inside the plasmas. That is because the shielding length in those plasmas is longer than that in the usual electron-ion plasmas, and furthermore the electrons are suppressed to diffuse to the extraction region due to the strong magnetic field.