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A cesiated DC negative ion source has been developed for proton cyclotrons in medical applications. A continuous H− beam of 23 mA was stably extracted at an arc power of 3 kW. The beam current gradually decreases with a constant arc power and without additional Cs injection and the decay rate was about 0.03 mA (0.14%) per hour. A feed-back control system that automatically adjusts the arc power to stabilize the beam current is able to keep the beam current constant at ±0.04 mA (±0.2%).

A filament driven multi-cusp negative ion source has been developed for proton cyclotron applications. In this study, numerical analysis of the H− volume production in the negative ion source has been conducted by the KEIO-MARC code and zero dimensional rate equations. The code calculate the Electron Energy Distribution Function (EEDF) in multi-cusp arc discharge sources from the following main input parameters: 1) 3D geometry of the source chamber and filaments, 2) 3D magnetic configuration, 3) arc voltage, 4) arc current and 5) gas pressure. Using the EEDF, we can also estimate the resultant amount of the H- volume production by the 0D rate equations. In this paper, we focus on the dependency of the H− production on the filter magnetic field and the arc-discharge voltage. It is shown that KEIO-MARC code reproduces the magnetic filter effect, i.e., the electron temperature and density are reduced across the filter region. Also, the 0D analysis shows that the amount of H-production increases with the arc-...

In order to improve the uniformity of the negative ion production, the KEIO-MARC code has been applied to the QST’s JT60SA negative ion source in three different magnetic configurations (i) MC-PGMF (Multi-Cusp and PG Magnetic Filter), (ii) TNT-MF (TeNT Magnetic Filter) and (iii) MTNT-MF (Modified TeNT Magnetic Filter). From the results, we have confirmed that the electron rotation inside the negative ion source is an essential element in order to obtain a uniform production of the negative ions. By adding extra tent magnets on the longitudinal sides, the electron rotation has been enhanced, and a uniform production of negative ions has been realized.