Rotational and vibrational temperatures in a hydrogen discharge with a magnetic X-point

Abstract

A novel plasma source with a magnetic X-point has been developed to probe an alternative for cesium-free negative hydrogen ion production. This study presents first results for the gas and vibrational temperatures in the source at 1Pa and various RF powers. The temperatures are obtained from analysis of the intensity distribution of the molecular Fulcher-α bands. The gas temperature increases with the RF power, while the vibrational temperature remains constant in the studied range of RF powers. Both quantities show no appreciable spatial dependence. The obtained high values of the vibrational temperatures indicate a high population of the vibrational levels, favourable for the volume negative ion production. A theoretical concept indicates the presence of an optimum value for the vibrational temperature at which the negative hydrogen ion yield by volume processes has a maximum. Coincidently, the measured value is close to this optimum. This indicates that the novel concept can provide certain advantages compared to other sources based on volume production. © 2012 American Institute of Physics.