Fast camera studies at an electron cyclotron resonance table plasma generator

TL;DR

This study uses fast camera imaging and ion current measurements to analyze the transient behavior of a simplified, table-top ECR plasma generator operating in pulsed RF mode, providing insights into plasma dynamics.

Contribution

It introduces a simplified, table-top ECR plasma generator and demonstrates the use of fast imaging and ion current diagnostics to study plasma transient processes.

Findings

Visible light emission correlates with plasma spatial distribution.

Plasma response varies with gas pressure and microwave power.

Time-resolved measurements reveal transient plasma behavior.

Abstract

A simple table-size ECR plasma generator operates in the ATOMKI without axial magnetic trap and without any particle extraction tool. Radial plasma confinement is ensured by a NdFeB hexapole. The table-top ECR is a simplified version of the 14 GHz ATOMKI-ECRIS. Plasma diagnostics experiments are planned to be performed at this device before installing the measurement setting at the big ECRIS. Recently, the plasma generator has been operated in pulsed RF mode in order to investigate the time evolution of the ECR plasma in two different ways. (1) The visible light radiation emitted by the plasma was investigated by the frames of a fast camera images with 1 ms temporal resolution. Since the visible light photographs are in strong correlation with the two-dimensional spatial distribution of the cold electron components of the plasma it can be important to understand better the transient processes just after the breakdown and just after the glow. (2) The time-resolved ion current on a specially shaped electrode was measured simultaneously in order to compare it with the visible light photographs. The response of the plasma was detected by changing some external setting parameters (gas pressure and microwave power) and was described in this paper.