A new compact linear beam-plasma discharge simulator BPD-PSI

Abstract

A new BPD-PSI line-type plasma simulator is introduced. The device features two vacuum units: a target unit and an electron gun unit, connected to each other by a water-cooled electron beam transport channel. The Pierce-type electron gun is used to generate stationary or pulsed electron beam, utilized for beam-plasma discharge generation. The plasma electron density can be varied in the range of n e = 1 × 1016 - 1 × 1018 m-3 with electron temperature in the range of T e = 1-20 eV. The ion flux of 1 × 1021 m-2 s-1 and heat fluxes up to 5 MW m-2 are obtained. A set of utilized plasma and plasma-surface interaction diagnostics are described. Five demonstration experiments are presented: 1) high vs low power beam-plasma operation, 2) beam-plasma discharge with/without presence of an external magnetic field, 3) incident ion flux composition analysis, 4) incident ion energy distribution function measurement, 5) in-situ target surface temperature control and in-vacuo thermal desorption spectroscopy measurement. All of the technical features of the setup described in this paper make it a new tool for studying plasma-surface interactions.