Study on the Correlation between Magnetic Field Structure and Cold Electron Transport in Negative Hydrogen Ion Sources

Abstract

In most negative hydrogen ion sources, an external magnet is installed near the extraction region to reduce the electron temperature. In this paper, the self-developed CHIPIC code is used to simulate the mechanism of a magnetic filter system, in the expansion region of the negative hydrogen ion source, on “hot” electrons. The reflection and the filtering processes of “hot” electrons are analyzed in depth and the energy distribution of electrons on the extraction surface is calculated. Moreover, the effects of different collision types on the density distribution of “cold” electrons along the X-axis and the spatial distribution of “cold” electrons on the X−Z plane are discussed. The numerical results show that the electron reflection is caused by the magnetic mirror effect. The filtering of “hot” electrons is due to the fact that the magnetic field constrains most of the electrons from reaching the vicinity of the extraction surface, being that collisions cause a decay in electron energy. Excitation collision is the main decay mechanism for electron energy in the chamber. The numerical results help to explain the formation process of “cold” electrons at the extraction surface, thus providing a reference for reducing the loss probability of H−.