AN IMPROVED Q-MACHINE SOURCE

The development of a new Q-plasma source is described. Emphasis is given to the novel parts of the system which have been designed to produce long term, constant density plasmas with low fluctuation levels, as well as long machine operation time. Relevant plasma parameters are obtained by laser induced fluorescence which is used as a diagnostic on the barium plasma. Plasma densities are in the range of 108 cm-3 to 1011 cm-3, with an electron temperature of about 0.2 eV, and a perpendicular ion temperature of the same magnitude. The parallel ion temperature is one half the perpendicular value.