Analysis of the characteristics of the plasma of an RF driven ion source for a neutral beam injector

In order to study the key technology and physics of RF driven ion source for neutral beam injector in China, a RF ion source test facility was developed at Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ASIPP). In this paper, a two-dimensional fluid model is used to simulate the fundamental physical characteristics of radio frequency plasma discharge.

Simulation results give the relationship among the plasma characteristic (such as electron density, electron temperature) and RF power, gas pressure. In order to verify the effectiveness of the model, the plasma characteristics are investigated using Langmuir probe. In this paper, the experimental and simulation results are presented, meanwhile the possible reasons for the discrepancies between them are given. This paper can help us to understand the characteristics of the radio frequency plasma discharge, and gives a basis for further R&D for RF ion source.