S.K. Hahto

Multicusp ion source with external rf antenna for production of protons

Proton beams are needed in neutral-beam injection for diagnostic development of an internal magnetic field measurement. High proton fraction, low axial energy spread, current density in excess of 30 mA/cm2, and a parallel ion beam with cw operation are the requirements for the ion source/extraction system. A multicusp-type ion source with an external rf antenna was constructed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. A proton fraction of 85% and proton current density of 32 mA/cm2 were achieved at 1.8 kW of rf power. Plasma parameters were measured with a rf compensated Langmuir probe.

Fast ion beam chopping system for neutron generators

Fast deuterium (D+) and tritium (T+) ion beam pulses are needed in some neutron-based imaging systems. A compact, integrated fast ion beam extraction and chopping system has been developed and tested at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory for these applications, and beam pulses with 15ns full width at half maximum have been achieved. Computer simulations together with experimental tests indicate that even faster pulses are achievable by shortening the chopper voltage rise time. This chopper arrangement will be implemented in a coaxial neutron generator, in which a small point-like neutron source is created by multiple 120keV D+ ion beams hitting a titanium target at the center of the source.

Negative chlorine ions from multicusp radio frequency ion source for heavy ion fusion applications

Use of high mass atomic neutral beams produced from negative ions as drivers for inertial confinement fusion has been suggested recently. Best candidates for the negative ions would be bromine and iodine with sufficiently high mass and electron affinity. These materials require a heated vapor ion source. Chlorine was selected for initial testing because it has similar electron affinity to those of bromine and iodine, and is available in gaseous form. An experiment was set up by the Plasma and Ion Source Technology Group in Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to measure achievable current densities and other beam parameters by using a rf driven multicusp ion source [K. N. Leung, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 65, 1165 (1994); Q. Ji et al., Rev. Sci. Instrum. 73, 822 (2002)]. Current density of 45 mA/cm2 was achieved with 99.5% of the beam as atomic negative chlorine at 2.2 kW of rf power. An electron to negative ion ratio as low as 7 to 1 was observed, while the ratio of positive and negative chlorine ion currents w...

Experiments with planar inductive ion source meant for creation of H+ beams

In this article the effects of different engineering parameters of rf-driven ion sources with an external spiral antenna and a quartz rf window are studied. This article consists of three main topics: the effect of source geometry on the operation gas pressure, the effect of source materials and magnetic confinement on extracted current density and ion species, and the effect of different antenna geometries on the extracted current density. The effect of source geometry was studied using three cylindrical plasma chambers with different inner diameters. The chamber materials were studied using two materials, aluminum (Al) and alumina (Al(2)O(3)). The removable 14 magnet multicusp confinement arrangement enabled us to compare the effects of the two wall materials with and without the magnetic confinement. The highest measured proton fractions were measured using Al(2)O(3) plasma chamber and no multicusp confinement. For the compared ion sources the source with multicusp confinement and Al(2)O(3) plasma chamber yields the highest current densities. Multicusp confinement increased the maximum extracted current by up to a factor of 2. Plasma production with different antenna geometries were also studied. The highest current density was achieved using 4.5 loop solenoid antenna with 6.0 cm diameter. A slightly lower current density with lower pressure was achieved using a tightly wound 3 loop spiral antenna with 3.3 cm inner diameter and 6 cm outer diameter.

Fast Slit-beam extraction and chopping for neutron generator

High-intensity fast white neutron pulses are needed for pulsed fast neutron transmission spectroscopy (PFNTS). A compact tritium–tritium fusion reaction neutron generator with an integrated ion beam chopping system has been designed, simulated, and tested for PFNTS. The design consists of a toroidal plasma chamber with 20 extraction slits, concentric cylindrical electrodes, chopper plates, and a central titanium-coated beam target. The total ion beam current is 1A. The beam chopping is done at 30keV energy with a parallel-plate deflector integrated with an Einzel lens. Beam pulses with 5ns width can be achieved with a 15ns rise/fall time ±1500V sweep on the chopper plates. The neutrons are produced at 120keV energy. A three-dimensional simulation code based on Vlasov iteration was developed for simulating the ion optics of this system. The results with this code were found to be consistent with other simulation codes. So far we have measured 50ns ion beam pulses from the system.

Multicusp ion source with external RF antenna for production of H- ions

A multicusp ion source with modular design was developed at LBNL for production of H− ions. The source consists of a front plate, two multicusp front chambers, a quartz flange with external 3‐loop RF antenna and a rear multicusp chamber. The source has LaB6 sputtering target at the rear chamber to lower the work function of the surfaces by coating them with LaB6 and an external cesium oven on the front plate. The front plate also has an integrated collar and filter magnets to cool plasma near the extraction. The collar also enables the use of cesium and LaB6 surface effects. The rear chamber is equipped with three vacuum feed‐throughs for operation with two gases and a pressure measurement.Current density of over 10 mA/cm2 of H− has been measured with e/I− ratio being ∼100 when the source was operated with only 1000 W of cw RF power. Negative ion production was enhanced using cesium, Xe gas mixing and LaB6 deposition to the source surfaces. When the front plate with filter magnets is removed, the source p...

Negative halogen ions for fusion applications (invited)

Over the past quarter century, advances in hydrogen negative-ion sources have extended the usable range of hydrogen-isotope neutral beams to energies suitable for large magnetic confinement fusion devices. Recently negative halogen ions have been proposed as an alternative to positive ions for heavy-ion fusion drivers in inertial confinement fusion, because electron accumulation would be prevented in negative-ion beams, and if desired, the beams could be photodetached to neutrals. This article reports an experiment comparing the current density and beam emittance of Cl+ and Cl− extracted from substantially ion-ion plasmas with that of Ar+ extracted from an ordinary electron-ion plasma, all using the same source, extractor, and emittance scanner. At similar discharge conditions, the Cl− current was typically 85%–90% of the positive chlorine current, with an e−∕Cl− ratio as low as 7 without grid magnets. The Cl− current was as much as 76% of the Ar+ current from a discharge with the same rf drive. The minim...

Development of C60 plasma ion source for time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry applicationsa)

Initial data from a multicusp ion source developed for buckminsterfullerene (C(60)) cluster ion production are reported in this article. A C(60)(+) beam current of 425 nA and a C(60)(-) beam current of 200 nA are obtainable in continuous mode. Compared to prior work using electron impact ionization, the multicusp ion source provides at least two orders of magnitude increase in the extractable C(60)(+) beam current. Mass spectra for both positive and negative bismuth cluster ions generated by the multicusp ion source are also included.

Experimental Evaluation of a Negative Ion Source for a Heavy Ion Fusion Negative Ion Driver

Negative halogen ions have recently been proposed as a possible alternative to positive ions for heavy ion fusion drivers because electron accumulation would not be a problem in the accelerator, and if desired, the beams could be photodetached to neutrals [1,2,3]. To test the ability to make suitable quality beams, an experiment was conducted at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory using chlorine in an RF-driven ion source. Without introducing any cesium (which is required to enhance negative ion production in hydrogen ion sources) a negative chlorine current density of 45 mA/cm{sup 2} was obtained under the same conditions that gave 57 mA/cm{sup 2} of positive chlorine, suggesting the presence of nearly as many negative ions as positive ions in the plasma near the extraction plane. The negative ion spectrum was 99.5% atomic chlorine ions, with only 0.5% molecular chlorine, and essentially no impurities. Although this experiment did not incorporate the type of electron suppression technology that is used in negative hydrogen beam extraction, the ratio of co-extracted electrons to Cl{sup -} was as low as 7 to 1, many times lower than the ratio of their mobilities, suggesting that few electrons are present in the near-extractor plasma. This, along with the near-equivalence of the positive and negative ion currents, suggests that the plasma in this region was mostly an ion-ion plasma. The negative chlorine current density was relatively insensitive to pressure, and scaled linearly with RF power. If this linear scaling continues to hold at higher RF powers, it should permit current densities of 100 mA/cm{sup 2}, sufficient for present heavy ion fusion injector concepts. The effective ion temperatures of the positive and negative ions appeared to be similar and relatively low for a plasma source.

Negative ions for heavy ion fusion and semiconductor manufacturing applications

Radio frequency driven multicusp source was set up to run chlorine plasma and the source performance was compared between positive and negative chlorine ion production. A maximum Cl− current density of 45 mA/cm2 was achieved at 2.2 kW of rf power with electron to negative ion ratio of 7 and positive to negative ion ratio of 1.3. 99.8% of the total negative chlorine beam was atomic Cl−. To produce negative boron ions for semiconductor manufacturing applications, a noncesiated, sputtering-type surface production ion source was constructed. An external rf antenna geometry and large LaB6 converter were implemented in the source design. Maximum B2− ion current density of 1 mA/cm2 was achieved at 800 W of rf power and −600 V converter voltage. Total B2− ion current was 1.8 mA.