SBIR-STTR Award

The successful performance of the charged particle beams in ballistic missile defense systems reburies an efficient ion source capable of producing high current heavy ion beams stably operating for hundreds of hours. Conventional ion sources using the heating filaments can operate in oxygen plasmas for only a few hours. The method being undertaken for achieving this goal is the microwave ion source utilizing the electron cyclotron resonance (ECR). An ECR plasma source is being designed and built, and its experimental set-up is being aimed at researching phenomenon and characteristics associated with the absorption of microwave power in ECR plasmas resulting in high oxygen plasma densities. Included are the effects of magnetic field and its axial distribution on the level of microwave power absorption and ECR plasma density and its spatial distribution. Other characteristics being researched are geometry and location of the absorption area and their effects on the optimum size of the ECR plasma chamber.