Spatial distribution of the plasma parameters in a radio-frequency driven negative ion source.

Results from initial stage of modeling of the SPIDER source of negative hydrogen/deuterium ions currently under development in Consorzio RFX (Padova) regarding ITER are presented. A 2D model developed within the fluid plasma theory for low-pressure discharges (free-fall regime maintenance) is applied to the gas-discharge conditions planned and required for the SPIDER source: gas pressure of 0.3 Pa and radio-frequency (rf) power of 100 kW absorbed in a single driver. The results are for the spatial distribution of the plasma characteristics (charged particle densities, electron temperature and electron energy flux, plasma potential, and dc electric field) with conclusions for the role of the electron energy flux in the formation of the discharge structure.

Matrix of small-radius radio-frequency discharges as a volume-production based source of negative hydrogen ions.

Based on experience from a work--both theoretical and experimental one--on negative hydrogen ion beam sources studied regarding fusion applications, a novel design of a rf source with volume production of the ions is proposed. The suggestion is for a source constructed as a matrix of small-radius tandem discharges (with magnetic filters largely extended over the discharge length), inductively driven (by a single coil, for the whole matrix) and with a single aperture extraction from each of them.