Study On A Negative Hydrogen Ion Source With Hot Cathode Arc Discharge

A negative hydrogen (H-) ion source with hot cathode arc discharge was designed and fabricated as a primary injector for a 10 MeV PET cyclotron at IMP. 1 mA dc H- beam with (epsilon) N, RMS = 0.08 pi mm mrad was extracted at 25 kV. Halbach hexapole was adopted to confine the plasma. The state of arc discharge, the parameters including filament current, arc current, gas pressure, plasma electrode bias, and the ratio of I-e-/I-H- were experimentally studied. The discussion on the result, and opinions to improve the source were given. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.