Characteristics of intense multispecies metallic ion beams extracted from plasma of a pulsed cathodic arc

Abstract

The energy spectra of a metallic ion beam extracted by a three-grid extractor from the plasma of a pulsed vacuum arc (pulse duration of 200 μs, discharge current Id of up to 100 A and ion current of up to 0.6 A) are studied by means of an electrostatic energy analyzer in a range of the extraction voltage Uext of up to 10 keV. It is found that the most probable ion energy Em/Z is markedly less than eUext, and the difference between these values as well as the width of the spectra decrease with increasing Uext or/and decreasing Id. It is found as well that the spectra contain “tails” of ions with energies significantly exceeding Em/Z. The shape of the spectra differs at various phases of the pulse, so that Em/Z in the initial transition phase is considerably more than that in the quasi-stationary phase. As possible causes of these effects, the nonmatched ion optics of the extraction gap and the action of the non-neutralized space charge of the extracted ion beam moving through the drift gap are considered.