Plasma diagnostic tools for ECR ion sources : What can we learn from these experiments for the next generation sources

International audience; The order-of-magnitude performance leaps of ECR ion sources over the past decades result from improvements to the magnetic plasma confinement, increases in the microwave heating frequency, and techniques to stabilize the plasma at high densities. Parallel to the technical development of the ion sources themselves, significant effort has been directed into the development of their plasma diagnostic tools. We review the recent results of Electron Cyclotron Resonance Ion Source (ECRIS) plasma diagnostics highlighting a number of selected examples of plasma density, electron energy distribution, and ion confinement time measurements, obtained mostly with the second-gener…

Limitations of electron cyclotron resonance ion source performances set by kinetic plasma instabilities.

Electron cyclotron resonance ion source (ECRIS) plasmas are prone to kinetic instabilities due to anisotropy of the electron energy distribution function stemming from the resonant nature of the electron heating process. Electron cyclotron plasma instabilities are related to non-linear interaction between plasma waves and energetic electrons resulting to strong microwave emission and a burst of energetic electrons escaping the plasma, and explain the periodic oscillations of the extracted beam currents observed in several laboratories. It is demonstrated with a minimum-B 14 GHz ECRIS operating on helium, oxygen, and argon plasmas that kinetic instabilities restrict the parameter space avail…

Experimental evidence on microwave induced electron losses from ECRIS plasma

The balance between warm and hot (>1 keV) electron density and their losses from the magnetic confinement system of an Electron Cyclotron Resonance Ion Source (ECRIS) plasma is considered to be one of the main factors determining the rate of the high charge state ion production. One of the key loss channels for heated electrons is thought to be induced by the injected microwaves. While this loss mechanism, referred to as rf-induced pitch angle scattering, has been studied theoretically and with computational tools, direct experimental evidence of its significance in minimum-B ECRIS plasmas remains limited. In this work, experimental evidence of microwave induced electron losses in the axial…

Plasma instability in the afterglow of electron cyclotron resonance discharge sustained in a mirror trap

The work presented in this article is devoted to time-resolved diagnostics of non-linear effects observed during the afterglow plasma decay of a 14 GHz electron cyclotron resonance ion source operated in pulsed mode. Plasma instabilities that cause perturbations of the extracted ion current during the decay were observed and studied. It is shown that these perturbations are associated with precipitation of high energy electrons along the magnetic field lines and strong bursts of bremsstrahlung emission. The effect of ion source settings on the onset of the observed instabilities was investigated. Based on the experimental data and estimated plasma properties, it is assumed that the instabil…

The role of radio frequency scattering in high-energy electron losses from minimum-B ECR ion source

Abstract The measurement of the axially lost electron energy distribution escaping from a minimum-B electron cyclotron resonance ion source in the range of 4–800 keV is reported. The experiments have revealed the existence of a hump at 150–300 keV energy, containing up to 15% of the lost electrons and carrying up to 30% of the measured energy losses. The mean energy of the hump is independent of the microwave power, frequency and neutral gas pressure but increases with the magnetic field strength, most importantly with the value of the minimum-B field. Experiments in pulsed operation mode have indicated the presence of the hump only when microwave power is applied, confirming that the origi…

Gyrotron-driven high current ECR ion source for boron-neutron capture therapy neutron generator

Abstract Boron-neutron capture therapy (BNCT) is a perspective treatment method for radiation resistant tumors. Unfortunately its development is strongly held back by a several physical and medical problems. Neutron sources for BNCT currently are limited to nuclear reactors and accelerators. For wide spread of BNCT investigations more compact and cheap neutron source would be much more preferable. In present paper an approach for compact D–D neutron generator creation based on a high current ECR ion source is suggested. Results on dense proton beams production are presented. A possibility of ion beams formation with current density up to 600 mA/cm 2 is demonstrated. Estimations based on obt…

Different dynamic regimes of stimulated electron-cyclotron emission from mirror-confined non-equilibrium plasma

High current proton beams production at Simple Mirror Ion Source 37

This paper presents the latest results of high current proton beam production at Simple Mirror Ion Source (SMIS) 37 facility at the Institute of Applied Physics (IAP RAS). In this experimental setup, the plasma is created and the electrons are heated by 37.5 GHz gyrotron radiation with power up to 100 kW in a simple mirror trap fulfilling the ECR condition. Latest experiments at SMIS 37 were performed using a single-aperture two-electrode extraction system. Proton beams with currents up to 450 mA at high voltages below 45 kV were obtained. The maximum beam current density was measured to be 600 mA/cm2. A possibility of further improvement through the development of an advanced extraction sy…

Measurements of the energy distribution of electrons lost from the minimum B-field -- the effect of instabilities and two-frequency heating

Further progress in the development of ECR ion sources (ECRIS) requires deeper understanding of the underlying physics. One of the topics that remains obscure, though being crucial for the performance of the ECRIS, is the electron energy distribution (EED). A well-developed technique of measuring the EED of electrons escaping axially from the magnetically confined plasma of an ECRIS was used for the study of EED in unstable mode of plasma confinement, i.e. in the presence of kinetic instabilities. The experimental data were recorded for pulsed and CW discharges with a room-temperature 14 GHz ECRIS at the JYFL accelerator laboratory. The measurements were focused on observing differences bet…

First experiments on applying the gasdynamic ECR ion source for negative hydrogen ion production

This article has no abstract. peerReviewed

Cyclotron instability in the afterglow mode of minimum-B ECRIS.

It was shown recently that cyclotron instability in non-equilibrium plasma of a minimum-B electron cyclotron resonance ion source (ECRIS) causes perturbation of the extracted ion current and generation of strong bursts of bremsstrahlung emission, which limit the performance of the ion source. The present work is devoted to the dynamic regimes of plasma instability in ECRIS operated in pulsed mode. Instability develops in decaying plasma shortly after heating microwaves are switched off and manifests itself in the form of powerful pulses of electromagnetic emission associated with precipitation of high energy electrons. Time-resolved measurements of microwave emission bursts are presented. I…

The effect of cavity tuning on oxygen beam currents of an A-ECR type 14 GHz electron cyclotron resonance ion source.

The efficiency of the microwave-plasma coupling plays a significant role in the production of highly charged ion beams with electron cyclotron resonance ion sources (ECRISs). The coupling properties are affected by the mechanical design of the ion source plasma chamber and microwave launching system, as well as damping of the microwave electric field by the plasma. Several experiments attempting to optimize the microwave-plasma coupling characteristics by fine-tuning the frequency of the injected microwaves have been conducted with varying degrees of success. The inherent difficulty in interpretation of the frequency tuning results is that the effects of microwave coupling system and the ca…

The biased disc of an electron cyclotron resonance ion source as a probe of instability-induced electron and ion losses

International audience; Electron Cyclotron Resonance Ion Source (ECRIS) plasmas are prone to kinetic instabilities resulting in loss of electron and ion confinement. It is demonstrated that the biased disk of an ECRIS can be used as a probe to quantify such instability-induced electron and ion losses occurring in less than 10 µs. The qualitative interpretation of the data is supported by the measurement of the energy spread of the extracted ion beams implying a transient plasma potential >1.5 kV during the instability. A parametric study of the electron losses combined with electron tracking simulations allows for estimating the fraction of electrons expelled in each instability event to be…

Microwave emission from ECR plasmas under conditions of two-frequency heating induced by kinetic instabilities

Multiple frequency heating is one of the most effective techniques to improve the performances of ECR ion sources. It has been demonstrated that the appearance of the periodic ion beam current oscillations in ECRIS at high heating power and low magnetic field gradient is associated with kinetic plasma instabilities. Recently it was proven that one of the main features of multiple frequency heating is connected with stabilizing effect, namely the suppression of electron cyclotron instability in ECRIS plasmas. Due to this kind of stabilization it is possible to run the ion source in stable mode using higher total microwave power and thus to obtain better ion beam parameters. Unfortunately, ev…

Beam current oscillations driven by cyclotron instabilities in a minimum-Belectron cyclotron resonance ion source plasma

Experimental observation of cyclotron instabilities in a minimum-B confined electron cyclotron resonance ion source plasma is reported. The instabilities are associated with strong microwave emission and a burst of energetic electrons escaping the plasma, and explain the periodic ms-scale oscillation of the extracted beam currents. Such non-linear effects are detrimental for the confinement of highly charged ions due to plasma perturbations at shorter periodic intervals in comparison with their production time. It is shown that the repetition rate of the periodic instabilities in oxygen plasmas increases with increasing magnetic field strength and microwave power and decreases with increasi…

Measurement of the energy distribution of electrons escaping minimum-B ECR plasmas

The measurement of the electron energy distribution (EED) of electrons escaping axially from a minimum-B electron cyclotron resonance ion source (ECRIS) is reported. The experimental data were recorded with a room-temperature 14 GHz ECRIS at the JYFL accelerator laboratory. The electrons escaping through the extraction mirror of the ion source were detected with a secondary electron amplifier placed downstream from a dipole magnet serving as an electron spectrometer with 500 eV resolution. It was discovered that the EED in the range of 5–250 keV is strongly non-Maxwellian and exhibits several local maxima below 20 keV energy. It was observed that the most influential ion source operating pa…

Limitation of the ECRIS performance by kinetic plasma instabilities (invited).

Electron cyclotron resonance ion source (ECRIS) plasmas are prone to kinetic instabilities due to anisotropic electron velocity distribution. The instabilities are associated with strong microwave emission and periodic bursts of energetic electrons escaping the magnetic confinement. The instabilities explain the periodic ms-scale oscillation of the extracted beam current observed with several high performance ECRISs and restrict the parameter space available for the optimization of extracted beam currents of highly charged ions. Experiments with the JYFL 14 GHz ECRIS have demonstrated that due to the instabilities the optimum Bmin-field is less than 0.8BECR, which is the value suggested by …

Microwave emission related to cyclotron instabilities in a minimum-Belectron cyclotron resonance ion source plasma

Electron cyclotron resonance ion sources (ECRIS) have been essential in the research and applications of nuclear physics over the past 40 years. They are extensively used in a wide range of large-scale accelerator facilities for the production of highly charged heavy ion beams of stable and radioactive elements. ECRISs are susceptible to kinetic instabilities due to resonance heating mechanism leading to anisotropic electron velocity distribution function. Instabilities of cyclotron type are a proven cause of frequently observed periodic bursts of 'hot' electrons and bremsstrahlung, accompanied with emission of microwave radiation and followed by considerable drop of multiply charged ions c…

Control of electron-cyclotron instability driven by strong ECRH in open magnetic trap

We discuss the laboratory experiment on a controlled transition from the generation of periodic bursts of electromagnetic radiation into the continuous-wave regime of a cyclotron maser formed in a magnetically confined non-equilibrium plasma (Shalashov A. G. et al. , Phys. Rev. Lett. , 114 (2018) 205001). The kinetic cyclotron instability of the extraordinary wave of a weakly inhomogeneous magnetized plasma is driven by the anisotropic electron population resulting from electron cyclotron plasma heating in a MHD-stable minimum-B open magnetic trap. In the present communication we focus on a theoretical model that explains the existing data and motivates further experiments.

Efficiency investigation of a negative hydrogen ion beam production with the use of the gasdynamic ECR plasma source

Abstract Negative hydrogen ion sources are of great demand in modern physics as injectors into accelerators and drivers for neutral beam injectors for fusion devices. It has been shown earlier that the use of the gasdynamic ECR discharge provides the opportunity to extract up to 80 mA/cm2 of negative ion current density. We studied experimentally the volumetric negative hydrogen ion production and vacuum ultraviolet emission in a gasdynamic ECR discharge. The high-density plasma was sustained by the pulsed 37 GHz / 100 kW gyrotron radiation in a magnetic configuration consisting of two consecutive simple mirror traps. The future prospects of the volumetric H− source based on the gasdynamic …

Kinetic instabilities in pulsed operation mode of a 14 GHz electron cyclotron resonance ion source

The occurrence of kinetic plasma instabilities is studied in pulsed operation mode of a 14 GHz Aelectron cyclotron resonance type electron cyclotron resonance ion source. It is shown that the temporal delay between the plasma breakdown and the appearance of the instabilities is on the order of 10- 100 ms. The most important parameters affecting the delay are magnetic field strength and neutral gas pressure. It is demonstrated that kinetic instabilities limit the high charge state ion beam production in the unstable operating regime. peerReviewed

Controlled turbulence regime of electron cyclotron resonance ion source for improved multicharged ion performance

Fundamental studies of excitation and non-linear evolution of kinetic instabilities of strongly nonequlibrium hot plasmas confined in open magnetic traps suggest new opportunities for fine-tuning of conventional electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) ion sources. These devices are widely used for the production of particle beams of high charge state ions. Operating the ion source in controlled turbulence regime allows increasing the absorbed power density and therefore the volumetric plasma energy content in the dense part of the discharge surrounded by the ECR surface, which leads to enhanced beam currents of high charge state ions. We report experiments at the ECR ion source at the JYFL accel…

Powerful neutron generators based on high current ECR ion sources with gyrotron plasma heating

This article has no abstract. peerReviewed

Neutron generator for BNCT based on high current ECR ion source with gyrotron plasma heating

BNCT development nowadays is constrained by a progress in neutron sources design. Creation of a cheap and compact intense neutron source would significantly simplify trial treatments avoiding use of expensive and complicated nuclear reactors and accelerators. D-D or D-T neutron generator is one of alternative types of such sources for. A so-called high current quasi-gasdynamic ECR ion source with plasma heating by millimeter wave gyrotron radiation is suggested to be used in a scheme of D-D neutron generator in the present work. Ion source of that type was developed in the Institute of Applied Physics of Russian Academy of Sciences (Nizhny Novgorod, Russia). It can produce deuteron ion beam…

The effect of plasma instabilities on the background impurities in charge breeder ECRIS

International audience; Experimental observations of plasma instabilities in the 14.5 GHz PHOENIX charge breeder ECRIS are summarized. It has been found that the injection of 133Cs+ or 85Rb+ into oxygen discharge of the CB-ECRIS can trigger electron cyclotron instabilities, which results to sputtering of the surfaces exposed to the plasma, followed by up to an order of magnitude increase of impurity currents in the extracted n+ charge state distribution. The transition from stable to unstable plasma regime is caused by gradual accumulation and ionization of Cs/Rb altering the discharge parameters in 10 - 100 ms time scale, not by a prompt interaction between the incident ion beam and the EC…

New progress of high current gasdynamic ion source (invited).

The experimental and theoretical research carried out at the Institute of Applied Physics resulted in development of a new type of electron cyclotron resonance ion sources (ECRISs)—the gasdynamic ECRIS. The gasdynamic ECRIS features a confinement mechanism in a magnetic trap that is different from Geller’s ECRIS confinement, i.e., the quasi-gasdynamic one similar to that in fusion mirror traps. Experimental studies of gasdynamic ECRIS were performed at Simple Mirror Ion Source (SMIS) 37 facility. The plasma was created by 37.5 and 75 GHz gyrotron radiation with power up to 100 kW. High frequency microwaves allowed to create and sustain plasma with significant density (up to 8 × 1013 cm−3 ) …

Observation of Poincaré-Andronov-Hopf Bifurcation in Cyclotron Maser Emission from a Magnetic Plasma Trap.

We report the first experimental evidence of a controlled transition from the generation of periodic bursts of electromagnetic radiation into the continuous-wave regime of a cyclotron maser formed in magnetically confined nonequilibrium plasma. The kinetic cyclotron instability of the extraordinary wave of weakly inhomogeneous magnetized plasma is driven by the anisotropic electron population resulting from electron cyclotron plasma heating in a MHD-stable minimum-$B$ open magnetic trap.

Dynamic regimes of cyclotron instability in the afterglow mode of minimum-Belectron cyclotron resonance ion source plasma

The paper is concerned with the dynamic regimes of cyclotron instabilities in non-equilibrium plasma of a minimum-B electron cyclotron resonance ion source operated in pulsed mode. The instability appears in decaying ion source plasma shortly (1–10 ms) after switching off the microwave radiation of the klystron, and manifests itself in the form of powerful pulses of electromagnetic emission associated with precipitation of high-energy electrons along the magnetic field lines. Recently it was shown that this plasma instability causes perturbations of the extracted ion current, which limits the performance of the ion source and generates strong bursts of bremsstrahlung emission. In this artic…

Gasdynamic ECR ion source for negative ion production

H− ion sources are needed in various areas of accelerator technology, such as beam injection into cyclotrons and storage rings and as a part of neutral beam injectors for plasma heating in experimental facilities studying thermonuclear fusion. It was recently demonstrated that gasdynamic ion source based on ECR discharge in a simple mirror trap is very efficient for proton beam production [1]. Here we use the gasdynamic plasma source as the first stage driver of volumetric negative ion production through dissociative electron attachment (DEA) [2]. Experiments were performed with a pulsed 37 GHz / up to 100 kW gyrotron radiation in a dual-trap magnetic system, which consists of two identical…

High yield neutron generator based on a high-current gasdynamic electron cyclotron resonance ion source

In present paper, an approach for high yield compact D-D neutron generator based on a high current gasdynamic electron cyclotron resonance ion source is suggested. Results on dense pulsed deuteron beam production with current up to 500 mA and current density up to 750 mA/cm2 are demonstrated. Neutron yield from D2O and TiD2 targets was measured in case of its bombardment by pulsed 300 mA Dþ beam with 45 keV energy. Neutron yield density at target surface of 109 s 1 cm2 was detected with a system of two 3 He proportional counters. Estimations based on obtained experimental results show that neutron yield from a high quality TiD2 target bombarded by Dþ beam demonstrated in present work accele…

Electron cyclotron resonance ion sources – physics, technology and future challenges

This article has no abstract. peerReviewed

Plasma instabilities of a charge breeder ECRIS

International audience; Experimental observation of plasma instabilities in a charge breeder electron cyclotron resonance ion source (CB-ECRIS) is reported. It is demonstrated that the injection of 133Cs+ or 85Rb+ ion beam into the oxygen discharge of the CB-ECRIS can trigger electron cyclotron instabilities, which restricts the parameter space available for the optimization of the charge breeding efficiency. It is concluded that the transition from a stable to unstable plasma regime is caused by gradual accumulation and ionization of Cs/Rb and simultaneous change of the discharge parameters in 10–100 ms time scale, not by a prompt interaction between the incident ion beam and the ECRIS pla…

Status of new developments in the field of high-current gasdynamic ECR ion sources at the IAP RAS

The experimental and theoretical research carried out in the past at the Institute of Applied Physics (IAP RAS) resulted in development of a new type of electron cyclotron resonance ion source (ECRIS) – the gasdynamic ECRIS. The gasdynamic ECRIS features a confinement mechanism in a magnetic trap that is different from Geller’s classical ECRIS confinement i.e. the quasi-gasdynamic one similar to that in fusion mirror traps . Such ion source type has demonstrated good performance producing high current (100-300 mA) multi-charged ion beams with moderate average charge (Z=4-5 for argon) and especially high efficiency for low emittance hydrogen and deuterium beam formation (500 emA current, cur…

High current proton source based on ECR discharge sustained by 37.5 GHz gyrotron radiation

Formation of hydrogen ion beams with high intensity and low transverse emittance is one of the key challenges in accelerator technology. Present work is devoted to experimental investigation of proton beam production from dense plasma (Ne > 1013 cm−3) of an ECR discharge sustained by 37.5 GHz, 100 kW gyrotron radiation at SMIS 37 facility at IAP RAS. The anticipated advantages of the SMIS 37 gasdynamic ion source over the current state-of-the-art proton source technology based on 2.45 GHz hydrogen discharges are described. Experimental result obtained with different extraction configurations i.e. single- and multi-aperture systems are presented. It was demonstrated that ultra bright proton …

Broadband microwave emission spectrum associated with kinetic instabilities in minimum-B ECR plasmas

Plasmas of electron cyclotron resonance ion sources (ECRISs) are prone to kinetic instabilities due to the resonant heating mechanism resulting in anisotropic electron velocity distribution. Frequently observed periodic oscillations of extracted ion beam current in the case of high plasma heating power and/or strong magnetic field have been proven to be caused by cyclotrontype instabilities leading to a notable reduction and temporal variation of highly charged ion production. Thus, investigations of such instabilities and techniques for their suppression have become important topics in ECRIS research. The microwave emission caused by the instabilities contains information on the electron e…

First experiments with gasdynamic ion source in CW mode.

A new type of ECR ion source—a gasdynamic ECR ion source—has been recently developed at the Institute of Applied Physics. The main advantages of such device are extremely high ion beam current with a current density up to 600–700 emA/cm2 in combination with low emittance, i.e., normalized RMS emittance below 0.1 π mm mrad. Previous investigations were carried out in pulsed operation with 37.5 or 75 GHz gyrotron radiation with power up to 100 kW at SMIS 37 experimental facility. The present work demonstrates the first experience of operating the gasdynamic ECR ion source in CW mode. A test bench of SMIS 24 facility has been developed at IAP RAS. 24 GHz radiation of CW gyrotron was used for p…

Study of Gasdynamic Electron Cyclotron Resonance Plasma Vacuum Ultraviolet Emission to Optimize Negative Hydrogen Ion Production Efficiency

Negative hydrogen ion sources are used as injectors into accelerators and drive the neutral beam heating in ITER. Certain processes in low-temperature hydrogen plasmas are accompanied by the emission of vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) emission. Studying the VUV radiation therefore provides volumetric rates of plasma-chemical processes and plasma parameters. In the past we have used gasdynamic ECR discharge for volumetric negative ion production and investigated the dependencies between the extracted H$^-$ current density and various ion source parameters. It was shown that it is possible to reach up to 80 mA/cm$^2$ of negative ion current density with a two electrode extraction. We report experime…

Studies of plasma breakdown and electron heating on a 14 GHz ECR ion source through measurement of plasma bremsstrahlung

Temporal evolution of plasma bremsstrahlung emitted by a 14?GHz electron cyclotron resonance ion source (ECRIS) operated in pulsed mode is presented in the energy range 1.5?400?keV with 100??s resolution. Such a high temporal resolution together with this energy range has never been measured before with an ECRIS. Data are presented as a function of microwave power, neutral gas pressure, magnetic field configuration and seed electron density. The saturation time of the bremsstrahlung count rate is almost independent of the photon energy up to 100?keV and exhibits similar characteristics with the neutral gas balance. The average photon energy during the plasma breakdown is significantly highe…