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Measurements and analysis of the plasma flow in an ion source made for negative ion extraction are reported in this article. The plasma flow has been measured using a Mach probe having two orthogonal probe heads. The plasma flow along the axis is driven by the electron pressure gradient, dragging along the ions via a measured ambipolar electric field against the collisional drag on the background gas. The force on the ions created by the electric field is mainly balanced by the collisional drag force. The collision between the ions and the background gas creates a pressure gradient along the flow direction. The one-dimensional plasma dynamic analysis supports the consistency of the experimental observations. The presence of a transverse magnetic filter reduces the plasma flow velocity, which could affect the negative ion production on the cesiated grid surface. A simple analysis shows that a strong plasma flow could enhance the surface production of negative ions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor and the Joint European Torus, two large magnetic confinement fusion devices, will use high-powered tritium beams. The suggestion has been made that tritium consumption could be reduced if tritium is only fed into the plasma source and deuterium or hydrogen is used as the neutralization target by operating with deuterium or hydrogen fed independently into the neutralizer. We report on measurements we performed with deuterium and hydrogen, and of the beam contamination that occurs in such an operating mode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IPP Garching is heavily involved in the development of the rf driven H-/D- ion source for the ITER NBI. After the successful demonstration of the required physical parameters, the experimental conditions have been extended to long pulses and large area beam extraction. This paper contains descriptions of the source and power supply modifications necessitated for long pulses as well as the latest results including the first 1 h pulse. Suppression of the coextracted electron current is a key issue. Experiments with potential control, different magnetic filter fields, and cesium handling to suppress the electrons and stabilize the currents are also reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IPP Garching is heavily involved in the development of the rf driven H(-)/D(-) ion source for the ITER NBI. After the successful demonstration of the required physical parameters, the experimental conditions have been extended to long pulses and large area beam extraction. This paper contains descriptions of the source and power supply modifications necessitated for long pulses as well as the latest results including the first 1 h pulse. Suppression of the coextracted electron current is a key issue. Experiments with potential control, different magnetic filter fields, and cesium handling to suppress the electrons and stabilize the currents are also reported.