PRIMARY ELECTRON-DRIFT IN A VOLUME HYBRID MULTICUSP H- ION-SOURCE

A new, large, hybrid volume negative ion source is described. Observations of curvature and grad B primary electron drift in the multicusp magnetic field are reported. The direction of the electron drift changes from one filament to the neighboring one, because of the change in the direction of the magnetic field. For a given discharge current the extracted negative ion current and the plasma density at the center of the extraction region are affected by the direction of the primary electron drift of the active filaments. It was shown, however, that the negative ion current is controlled by the plasma density at the center of the extraction region. A trajectory calculation, effected in the guiding center approximation, allows to estimate the average drift velocity.