Penning Ion Source in Inertial Electrostatic Confinement Systems

In this paper, the Penning ion sources (PIS) characteristics are studied applied to their use in an inertial electrostatic confinement (IEC) system based on a two-electrode spherical chamber. In the IEC chamber with deuterium filling, due to multiple oscillations of ion beams through a gas-plasma target inside the central electrode, a beam-target mechanism for generating neutron radiation is realized. Based on the method for the neutron yield calculating of IEC systems, the requirements for a PIS are formulated to ensure the neutron yield (2.5 MeV) in the range of 10⁶–10⁷ neutr./s. A computational and experimental study of the discharge combustion regimes in the PIS has been carried out depending on the configuration of the external magnetic field and comparison of the currents in the PIS and the currents through the central electrode of the IEC chamber in the pressure range from 0.1 to 10 mTorr. The optimal number of PIS in the considered spherical chamber of the IEC justified.