New Vaporizing Assembly for Q-Plasma Sources

The design and operation of a new vaporizing assembly used for Q-plasma sources are described in this article. The vaporizing system, consisting of two ovens and an effuser, is used to vaporize and direct atoms onto a hot ionizer plate. The hot plate, which may be of tantalum, tungsten, or rhenium, singly ionizes the atoms on contact. The main advantages of this new assembly, compared to previous designs, are the production of higher plasma densities and the control of the radial plasma profile. The heaters of the two atomic beam ovens are independently controlled and monitored so that the gradients of the radial plasma profile can be modified. Plasma production with two ion species can also be performed.