Double layer formation in the expanding region of an inductively coupled electronegative plasma

Double-layers (DLs) were observed in the expanding region of an inductively coupled plasma with $\text{Ar}/\text{SF}\_6$ gas mixtures. No DL was observed in pure argon or $\text{SF}\_6$ fractions below few percent. They exist over a wide range of power and pressure although they are only stable for a small window of electronegativity (typically between 8\% and 13\% of $\text{SF}\_6$ at 1mTorr), becoming unstable at higher electronegativity. They seem to be formed at the boundary between the source tube and the diffusion chamber and act as an internal boundary (the amplitude being roughly 1.5$\frac{kT\_e}{e}$)between a high electron density, high electron temperature, low electronegativity plasma upstream (in the source), and a low electron density, low electron temperature, high electronegativity plasma downstream

Experimental investigation of double layers in expanding plasmas

Double layers (DLs) have been observed in a plasma reactor composed of a source chamber attached to a larger expanding chamber. Positive ion beams generated across the DL were characterized in the low plasma potential region using retarding field energy analyzers. In electropositive gases, DLs were formed at very low pressures between 0.1 and 1 mTorr with the plasma expansion forced by a strongly diverging magnetic field. The DL remains static, robust to changes in boundary conditions, and its position is related to the magnetic field lines. The voltage drop across the DL increases with decreasing pressure, i.e., with increasing electron temperature around 20 V at 0.17 mTorr. DLs were also observed in electronegative gases without a magnetic field over a greater range of pressure 0.5 to 10 mTorr. The actual profile of the electronegative DL is very sensitive to external parameters and intrusive elements, and they propagate at high negative ion fraction. Electrostatic probes measurements and laser-induced photodetachment show discontinuities in all plasma parameters electron density, electron temperature, negative ion fraction at the DL position. The voltage drop across the electronegative DL is about 8 V, is independent of the gas pressure and therefore of the electron temperature

Direction for the Future - Successive Acceleration of Positive and Negative Ions Applied to Space Propulsion

Electrical space thrusters show important advantages for applications in outer space compared to chemical thrusters, as they allow a longer mission lifetime with lower weight and propellant consumption. Mature technologies on the market today accelerate positive ions to generate thrust. The ion beam is neutralized by electrons downstream, and this need for an additional neutralization system has some drawbacks related to stability, lifetime and total weight and power consumption. Many new concepts, to get rid of the neutralizer, have been proposed, and the PEGASES ion-ion thruster is one of them. This new thruster concept aims at accelerating both positive and negative ions to generate thrust, such that additional neutralization is redundant. This chapter gives an overview of the concept of electric propulsion and the state of the development of this new ion-ion thruster.Comment: 10 pages, contribution to the CAS-CERN Accelerator School: Ion Sources, Senec, Slovakia, 29 May - 8 June 2012, edited by R. Bailey. appears in CERN Yellow Report CERN-2013-007, pp.575-58

The Baum-Connes Conjecture via Localisation of Categories

We redefine the Baum-Connes assembly map using simplicial approximation in the equivariant Kasparov category. This new interpretation is ideal for studying functorial properties and gives analogues of the assembly maps for all equivariant homology theories, not just for the K-theory of the crossed product. We extend many of the known techniques for proving the Baum-Connes conjecture to this more general setting

Collisionless heating in capacitive discharges enhanced by dual-frequency excitation

We discuss collisionless electron heating in capacitive discharges excited by a combination of two disparate frequencies. By developing an analytical model, we find, contrary to expectation, that the net heating in this case is much larger than the sum of the effects occurring when the two frequencies act separately. This prediction is substantiated by kinetic simulations, which are also in excellent general quantitative agreement with the model for discharge parameters that are typical of recent experiments

Limited energy spread in an SSC

http://accelconf.web.cern.ch/AccelConf/c78/papers/f-02.pd

Transition from unstable electrostatic confinement to stable magnetic confinement in a helicon reactor operating with Ar∕SF₆ gas mixtures

Two types of instabilities were previously identified in inductive discharges having an expanding chamber when negative ions are present: (i) the sourceinstability, occurring in the neighborhood of the capacitive-to-inductive (E to H) transition, and (ii) the downstream instability, which was shown to be the periodic formation and propagation of double layers. These unstable double layers were found over the entire parameter space (pressure/power) of interest, and they were born at the interface of the source and diffusion chambers. They acted as an internal electrostatic barrier separating a low-electronegativity, high-electron-density plasma upstream (in the source) and a high-electronegativity, low-electron-density plasma downstream. In this paper we have investigated the effect of adding a static axial magnetic field, classically used to increase the confinement and the plasma heating via helicon wave propagation. This had the following consequences: (i) the unstable double layers, and therefore the axial electrostatic confinement, were suppressed in a large part of the parameter space, and (ii) the magnetic confinement leads to a radially stratified plasma, the center being a low-electronegativity, high-density plasma and the edges being essentially an ion-ion plasma

Plasma Arc Cutting - Reversed Swirl Ring, Electrode Thread and Cut Direction Effects on Kerf Geometry

Plasma arc cutting is used to cut any conductive material. It consists in blowing pressurized gas and feed current to an arc, leading to a thin plasma dart able to melt down the material and blow it away, creating a kerf. Its quality depends on its shape. This paper shows, through experimental measurements, how the inner geometry of the torch can affect the cut quality. It appears that one side of the kerf is much more oblique and sensitive to factors variation than the other. A theory based on a computational fluid dynamics model is proposed to investigate the causes of these phenomena

Chromatic correlations at injection and related ejection problems in separated sector cyclotrons

International audienceInjection into a cyclotron, in order to preventemittance and phase spread dilution, requires propercouplings in the matching. One must first introduce aAP/r' associated with an r/AW coupling (through simplecticconditions) ; according to the angle of theaccelerating dees and the choice of harmonic numberthe(r,r') acceptance may also have to be tilted. Allthese effects are investigated in the case of theGANIL SSC's. At extraction corresponding correlationsexist. For a resonant system, extraction may be difficultwhen the energy spread is large because of thelarge coupling induced by resonance. A precessionalextraction which has been studied might in this casebe more efficient. Other ways for making extractioneasier are also considered. Moreover a new method ofphase compression at injection into the SSC is presentlyunder study at GANIL

Electron heating mechanisms in dual frequency capacitive discharges

We discuss electron heating mechanisms in the sheath regions of dual-frequency capacitive discharges, with the twin aims of identifying the dominant mechanisms and supplying closed-form expressions from which the heating power can be estimated. We show that the heating effect produced by either Ohmic or collisionless heating is much larger when the discharge is excited by a superposition of currents at two frequencies than if either current had acted alone. This coupling effect occurs because the lower frequency current, while not directly heating the electrons to any great extent, strongly affects the spatial structure of the discharge in the sheath regions