PULSE INTENSE METAL-ION DIODE WITH A VACUUM-ARC PLASMA ANODE

An intense pulsed ion beam of metal was extracted from a magnetically insulated ion diode operated in a mode of plasma prefill generated from a vacuum arc discharge, anode plasma source. With this ion diode, an intense metal-ion beam of a high melting-point metal (Ta) was obtained. A variety of operational modes appeared, depending on the amount of plasma in the diode gap at the initiation of the high-voltage pulse. The energy, current, and duration time of the ion beam were 20 approximately 100 keV, approximately 1 kA, and 1-mu-s, respectively. Measurements of ions were performed with an ion energy analyzer or a biased ion collector located at the end of a long drift tube and a Thomson parabola ion spectrometer. The Ta ions in the first to fifth states of ionization were detected accompanied by C+, O+, F+, and H+. A Ta ion beam current of about half the total ion flux was obtained in this experiment.