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 A-electron 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.

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 the semiempirical scaling laws guiding the design of ECRISs.

Ion source research and development at University of Jyväskylä: Studies of different plasma processes and towards the higher beam intensities.

Several ion source related research and development projects are in progress at the Department of Physics, University of Jyväskylä (JYFL). The work can be divided into investigation of the ion source plasma and development of ion sources, ion beams, and diagnostics. The investigation covers the Electron Cyclotron Resonance Ion Source (ECRIS) plasma instabilities, vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) and visible light emission, photon induced electron emission, and the development of plasma diagnostics. The ion source development covers the work performed for radiofrequency-driven negative ion source, RADIS, beam line upgrade of the JYFL 14 GHz ECRIS, and the development of a new room-temperature-magnet 18 GHz ECRIS, HIISI.

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. It was found that even in various gases (helium and oxygen were studied) and at different values of magnetic field and heating power, the dynamic spectra demonstrate common features: decreasing frequency within a single burst as well as from one burst to another.

Power efficiency improvements with the radio frequency H⁻ ion source.

CW 13.56 MHz radio frequency-driven H(-) ion source is under development at the University of Jyväskylä for replacing an existing filament-driven ion source at the MCC30/15 cyclotron. Previously, production of 1 mA H(-) beam, which is the target intensity of the ion source, has been reported at 3 kW of RF power. The original ion source front plate with an adjustable electromagnet based filter field has been replaced with a new front plate with permanent magnet filter field. The new structure is more open and enables a higher flux of ro-vibrationally excited molecules towards the plasma electrode and provides a better control of the potential near the extraction due to a stronger separation of the main plasma from the plasma electrode. While the original system provided better control over the e(-)/H(-) ratio, the new configuration has led to a higher production efficiency of 1 mA H(-) at 1.75 kW RF power. The latest results and upgrade plans are presented.

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 available for the optimization of high charge state ion currents. The most critical parameter in terms of plasma stability is the strength of the solenoid magnetic field. It is demonstrated that due to the instabilities the optimum Bmin-field in single frequency heating mode is often ≤0.8BECR, which is the value suggested by the semiempirical scaling laws guiding the design of modern ECRISs. It is argued that the effect can be attributed not only to the absolute magnitude of the magnetic field but also to the variation of the average magnetic field gradient on the resonance surface.

Ultra-fast intensified frame images from an electron cyclotron resonance hydrogen plasma at 2.45 GHz: some space distributions of visible and monochromatic emissions.

First results from an ultra-fast frame image acquisition diagnostic coupled to a 2.45 GHz microwave hydrogen discharge are presented. The plasma reactor has been modified to include a transparent doubled shielded quartz window allowing to viewing the full plasma volume. Pictures describing the breakdown process at 1 µs exposure time have been obtained for integrated visible light signal, Balmer-alpha, Balmer-beta lines, and Fulcher-band. Several different plasma emission distributions are reported. The distribution depends on the magnetic field configuration, incident microwave power, and neutral gas pressure.

Transverse distribution of beam current oscillations of a 14 GHz electron cyclotron resonance ion source.

The temporal stability of oxygen ion beams has been studied with the 14 GHz A-ECR at JYFL (University of Jyvaskyla, Department of Physics). A sector Faraday cup was employed to measure the distribution of the beam current oscillations across the beam profile. The spatial and temporal characteristics of two different oscillation "modes" often observed with the JYFL 14 GHz ECRIS are discussed. It was observed that the low frequency oscillations below 200 Hz are distributed almost uniformly. In the high frequency oscillation "mode," with frequencies >300 Hz at the core of the beam, carrying most of the current, oscillates with smaller amplitude than the peripheral parts of the beam. The results help to explain differences observed between the two oscillation modes in terms of the transport efficiency through the JYFL K-130 cyclotron. The dependence of the oscillation pattern on ion source parameters is a strong indication that the mechanisms driving the fluctuations are plasma effects.

Ionization efficiency studies with charge breeder and conventional electron cyclotron resonance ion source.

Radioactive Ion Beams play an increasingly important role in several European research facility programs such as SPES, SPIRAL1 Upgrade, and SPIRAL2, but even more for those such as EURISOL. Although remarkable advances of ECRIS charge breeders (CBs) have been achieved, further studies are needed to gain insight on the physics of the charge breeding process. The fundamental plasma processes of charge breeders are studied in the frame of the European collaboration project, EMILIE, for optimizing the charge breeding. Important information on the charge breeding can be obtained by conducting similar experiments using the gas mixing and 2-frequency heating techniques with a conventional JYFL 14 GHz ECRIS and the LPSC-PHOENIX charge breeder. The first experiments were carried out with noble gases and they revealed, for example, that the effects of the gas mixing and 2-frequency heating on the production of high charge states appear to be additive for the conventional ECRIS. The results also indicate that at least in the case of noble gases the differences between the conventional ECRIS and the charge breeder cause only minor impact on the production efficiency of ion beams.

Electron cyclotron resonance ion source plasma chamber studies using a network analyzer as a loaded cavity probe.

A method and first results utilizing a network analyzer as a loaded cavity probe to study the resonance properties of a plasma filled electron cyclotron resonance ion source (ECRIS) plasma chamber are presented. The loaded cavity measurements have been performed using a dual port technique, in which two separate waveguides were used simultaneously. One port was used to ignite and sustain the plasma with a microwave source operating around 11 GHz and the other was used to probe the cavity properties with the network analyzer using a frequency range around 14 GHz. The first results obtained with the JYFL 14 GHz ECRIS demonstrate that the presence of plasma has significant effects on the resonance properties of the cavity. With plasma the frequency dependent behavior is strongly damped and this trend strengthens with increasing microwave power.

The effect of gas mixing and biased disc voltage on the preglow transient of electron cyclotron resonance ion source.

The effect of gas mixing and biased disc voltage on the preglow of electron cyclotron resonance ion source plasma has been studied with the AECR-U type 14 GHz ion source. It was found that gas mixing has a significant effect on the preglow. The extracted transient beam currents and efficiency of the heavier species increase, while the currents and efficiency of the lighter species decrease when gas mixing is applied. The effect of the biased disc was found to be pronounced in continuous operation mode in comparison to preglow. The data provide information on the time scales of the plasma processes explaining the effects of gas mixing and biased disc. The results also have implications on production of radioactive ion beams in preglow mode for the proposed Beta Beam neutrino factory.

Optical emission spectroscopy of the Linac4 and superconducting proton Linac plasma generators.

CERN's superconducting proton Linac (SPL) study investigates a 50 Hz high-energy, high-power Linac for H(-) ions. The SPL plasma generator is an evolution of the DESY ion source plasma generator currently operated at CERN's Linac4 test stand. The plasma generator is a step towards a particle source for the SPL, it is designed to handle 100 kW peak RF-power at a 6% duty factor. While the acquisition of an integrated hydrogen plasma optical spectrum is straightforward, the measurement of a time-resolved spectrum requires dedicated amplification schemes. The experimental setup for visible light based on photomultipliers and narrow bandwidth filters and the UV spectrometer setup are described. The H(α), H(ß), and H(γ) Balmer line intensities, the Lyman band and alpha transition were measured. A parametric study of the optical emission from the Linac4 ion source and the SPL plasma generator as a function of RF-power and gas pressure is presented. The potential of optical emission spectrometry coupled to RF-power coupling measurements for on-line monitoring of short RF heated hydrogen plasma pulses is discussed.