Abstract. Powerful negative hydrogen ion sources are required for heating and current drive at ITER. The physics of the production and extraction of high negative ion currents is much more complex than that for positive ions. One of the most relevant parameters is the shape of the plasma sheath, which determines the velocity of surface produced negative ions and thus the probability of the ions to reach the extraction system. In order to investigate the influence of hydrogen atoms, positive and negative hydrogen ions and positive caesium ions on the plasma sheath, a 1d3v particle in cell code (PIC) code for the plasma close to the extraction system has been developed. For typical plasma parameters of such ion sources, surface conversion of impinging atoms is the main negative ion production channel, while conversion of positive ions plays a minor role. Due to the formation of a potential minimum close to the surface, the emission of negative ions into the plasma is space charge limited. As a consequence, the flux of negative ions can be increased only by increasing the density of positive hydrogen ions. At identical plasma parameters, an isotope effect is determined by the mass of the particles only, resulting in lower fluxes of negative deuterium ions compared with hydrogen. A small amount of positive Cs does not change the plasma sheath and the H⁻ flux significantly.

Print publication: Issue 4 (November 2009)
Received 4 June 2009, in final form 11 September 2009
Published 6 October 2009