Simulation to Predict Target Erosion of Planar DC Magnetron

Plasma properties in a planar DC magnetron system are simulated by a non-self- consistent particle method in two dimensions. Through tracing the trajectories of the energetic electrons in the specified electric field and the magnetic field, and treating the collision process by Monte Carlo method, the spatial profile of ionization events can be obtained conveniently. Assuming that the ions speed up from the ionization points and bombard the target with the energy at these points, and according to the Yamamura/Tawara method, the target erosion can be predicted. The magnetic field is calculated by the finite element method, and the electric field is estimated according to the self-consistent simulation and measured results. The influence of the time step size on the target erosion profile is analysed first to find a proper step size. Then the influence of electric field estimated on the erosion profile is discussed. The erosion profile may become narrower if the sheath thickness is increased. Finally, considering the dynamic erosion process, the erosion profile may get wider over time for the magnetron with shunt bar.     

Texas Helimak

Helimak is an experimental approximation to the ideal cylindrical slab, a onedimensional magnetized plasma with magnetic curvature and shear. The Texas Helimak realizes this approximation to a large degree; the finite size of the device can be neglected for many phenomena. Specifically, the drift-wave turbulence characteristic of a slab is observed with scale lengths small compared with the device size. The device and the general features of its behavior are described here. The device is capable of studying drift-wave turbulence, scrape-off layer （SOL） turbulence, and the stabilization of turbulence by imposing velocity shear.     

Dosimetric Analyses of Single Particle Microbeam in Cell Irradiation Experiment

Single particle microbeam （SPM） is uniquely capable of delivering precisely the predefined number of charged particles to determined individual cells or sub-cellular targets in situ. It has been recognized as a powerful technique for unveiling ionization irradiation mechanisms of organism. This article describes some investigations on the irradiation quality of SPM of major world laboratories by means of Monte Carlo method based on dosimetry and microdosimetry. Those parameters are helpful not only to improve SPM irradiating cell experiments but also to study the biological effects of cells irradiated by SPM.     

The Efficiency of Ion Stochastic Heating by a Monochromatic Obliquely Propagating Low-Frequency Alfven Wave

Abstract The process of ion heating by a monochromatic obliquely propagating low-frequency Alfven wave is investigated. This process can be roughly divided into three stages： at first, the ions are picked up by the Alfven wave in several gyro-periods and a bulk velocity in the transverse direction is achieved; then, the ions are scattered in the transverse direction by the wave, which produces phase differences between the ions and leads to ion heating, especially in the perpendicular direction; and finally, the ions are stochastically heated due to the sub- cyclotron resonance. In this paper, with a test particle method, the efficiency and time scale of the ion stochastic heating by a monochromatic obliquely propagating low-frequency Alfven wave are studied. The results show that with the increase of the amplitude, frequency, and propagation angle of the AlDen wave, the efficiency of the ion stochastic heating increases, while the time scale of the ion stochastic heating decreases. With the increase of the plasma beta β, the ions are stochastically heated with less efficiency, and the time scale increases. We also investigate the heating of heavy ion species （He2＋ and O5＋）, which can be heated with a higher efficiency by the oblique Alfven wave.     

Experimental Study of a Minitype Atmospheric Non-equilibrium Plasma Source

A mini-type of plasma source was studied experimentally. The results showed that the plasma density, which was generated by an atmospheric non-equilibrium plasma source, rises with the increase in driving electric-field and the momentum of gas particles. For a driving electricfield of 56 kV/cm and a gas particles＇ momentum of 10^9 × 10^-22 g·m/s, the ion density can exceed 10^10/cm^3 while the effective volume of the plasma source is only 2.5 cm^2. This study may help develop a method to generate a minitype plasma source with low energy consumption but high ion concentration. This source can be used in chemical industry, environmental engineering and military applications.     

Design of Magnetic Measurement System on SUNIST Spherical Tokamak

A magnetic measurement system consisting of magnetic probes and flux loops for spherical tokamak SUNIST, is uniquely designed due to the strongly shaped plasma cross section and the narrow space near the central solenoid. Plasma equilibrium reconstruction with the current filament method is performed to determine the number and positions of the magnetic probes and flux loops, as well as their design precision required.     

Analysis of the Plasma Properties Affected by Magnetic Confinement with Special Emphasis on Helicon Discharges

A one-dimensional radial non-uniform fluid model is employed to study plasma behaviors with special emphasis laid on helicon discharges. The plasma density ne, electron temperature Te, electron azimuthal and radial drift velocities are investigated in terms of the plasma radius rp, magnetic field intensity B0 and gas pressure p0, by assuming radial ambipolar diffusion and negligible ion cyclotron movement. The results show that the magnetic confinement plays an important role in the discharge equilibrium, especially at low pressure, which significantly reduces Te compared with the case of a negligible magnetic field effect, and higher B0 leads to a greater average plasma density. Te shows little variations in the plasma density range of 1011 cm-3- 1013 cm-3 for p0 〈 3.0 mTorr. Comparison of the simulation results with experiments suggests that the model can make reasonable predictions of Te in low pressure helicon discharges.     

Analysis of Magnetic Field of the DNB Ion Source

A distribution of the magnetic field produced by permanent magnets in the DNB ion source is calculated and analyzed in order to understand the plasma confinement in a cusped magnetic field and optimize plasma discharge. A uniform plasma is obtained in the experiment.     

Cu Films Deposited by Unbalanced Magnetron Sputtering Enhanced by ICP and External Magnetic Field Confinement

Metallic copper（Cu） films were deposited on a Si （100） substrate by unbalanced magnetron sputtering enhanced by radio-frequency plasma and external magnetic field confinement. The morphology and structure of the films were examined by scanning electron microscopy （SEM）, atomic force microscope （AFM） and X-ray diffraction （XRD）. The surface average roughness of the deposited Cu films was characterized by AFM data and resistivity was measured by a four-point probe. The results show that the Cu films deposited with radio-frequency discharge enhanced ionization and external magnetic field confinement have a smooth surface, low surface roughness and low resistivity. The reasons may be that the radio-frequency discharge and external magnetic field enhance the plasma density, which further improves the ion bombardment effect under the same bias voltage conditions. Ion bombardment can obviously influence the growth features and characteristics of the deposited Cu films.     

A Simulation Study of Hall Effect on Double Tearing Modes

A Hall magnetohydrodynamics （MHD） simulation is carried out to study the dynamic process of double tearing mode. The results indicated that the growth rates in the earlier nonlinear and transition phases agree with the previous results. With further development of reconnection, the current sheet thickness is much smaller than the ion inertia length, which leads to a strong influence of the Hall effects. As a result, the reconnection in the late nonlinear phase exhibits an explosive nature with a time scale nearly independent of resistivity. A localized and severely intensified current density is observed and the maximum kinetic energy is over one order of magnitude higher in Hall MHD than that in resistive MHD.     

Arc Behaviours in Vacuum Interrupters with Axial Magnetic Field Electrodes

To improve the limiting current interruption capability and minimizing vacuum interrupter with axial magnetic field （AMF） electrodes, it is significant to investigate the vacuum arc behaviours between the contacts. AMF distributions of the slot type electrodes were studied by both numerical analysis and experiments. Furthermore, the behaviours of vacuum arcs for different parameters of the slot type AMF electrodes were investigated by using high-speed CCD camera. The influences of gap distance, contact diameter and phase shift time between AMF and arc current on the vacuum arc were investigated. The results provide a reference for research and development of vacuum interrupters with slot type or other types of AMF electrode.     

Genotoxic Effects of Superconducting Static Magnetic Fields （SMFs） on Wheat （Triticum aestivum） Pollen Mother Cells （PMCs）

The effects of superconducting static magnetic fields （SMFs） on the pollen mother cells （PMCs） of wheat were investigated in order to evaluate the possible genotoxic effect of such non-ionizing radiation. The seeds of wheat were exposed to static magnetic fields with either different magnetic flux densities （0, 1, 3, 5 and 7 Tesla） for 5 h or different durations （1, 3 and 5 h） at a magnetic flux density of 7 Tesla. The seeds were germinated at 23℃ after exposure and the seedlings were transplanted into the field. The PMCs from young wheat ears were taken and slides were made following the conventional method. The genotoxic effect was evaluated in terms of micronucleus （MN）, chromosomal bridge, lagging chromosome and fragments in PMCs. Although the exposed groups of a low field intensity （below 5 Tesla） showed no statistically significant difference in the aberration frequency compared with the unexposed control groups and sham exposed groups, a significant increase in the chromosomal bridge, lagging chromosome, triple-polar segregation or micronucleus was observed at a field strength of 5 Tesla or 7 Tesla, respectively. The analysis of dose-effect relationships indicated that the increased frequency of meiotic abnormal cells correlated with the flux density of the magnetic field and duration, but no linear relationship was observed. Such statistically significant differences indicated a potential genotoxic effect of high static magnetic fields above 5 T.     

Effect of Mirror Magnetic Field on Abnormal Glow Discharge of Four-Anode Device

Abstract In the four-anode device, the mirror magnetic field affects the characteristics of charged particles motion, so that the current-voltage relations of glow discharge are changed. Firstly, the discharge device is introduced, and the distribution of mirror magnetic field generated by the loops surrounding the discharge chamber is presented. Both the discharge current-voltage characteristics and the radial distributions of electron density are measured, respectively, with/without the magnetic field. When the discharge occurs in a 99.99% helium with a pressure ranging from 100 Pa to 800 Pa without magnetic field, the voltage, sustaining a certain abnormal glow discharge current, decreases with the increase in gas pressure. With a mirror magnetic field of certain intensity, the discharge voltage increases with the current in a rate slower than that without the magnetic field. Moreover, when the magnetic field intensity increases, the discharge voltage first decreases then increases. Simultaneously, the mirror magnetic field affects the moving characteristics of charged particles, and causes a more inhomogeneous electron density.     

Experimental Study of SO2 Removal by Pulsed DBD Along with the Application of Magnetic Field

Dielectric barrier discharge （DBD） for SOs removal from indoor air is investigated. In order to improve the removal efficiency, two novel methods are combined in this paper, namely by applying a pulsed driving voltage with nanosecond rising time and applying a magnetic field. For SOs removal efficiency, different matches of electric field and magnetic field are discussed. And nanosecond rising edge pulsed power supply and microsecond rising edge pulsed power supply are compared. It can be concluded that a pulsed DBD with nanosecond rising edge should be adopted, and electrical field and magnetic field should be applied in an appropriate match.     

Simulation Study of Heat Flux Deposition Pattern on the Surface of HT-7 Toroidal Limiters

The heat flux deposition pattern on the toroidal limiters installed in HT-7 was simulated with ANSYS code. The simulation model was established with the ripple of the magnetic field. The heat deposition pattern and temperature distribution on the surface of the toroidal linfiters were obtained. A comparison of the results obtained with and without the shaped tiles, used to reduce the heat flux on the leading edge of the limiters, was made. The maximum heat load allowed at the leading edge was about 1.8 MW/m2 because of the poor power removing capacity on the ends of the limiters. This approach can also be applied to other devices with a limiter configuration in a circular cross-section shape.     

Influence of Copper Vapor on Low-Voltage Circuit Breaker Arcs During Stationary and Moving States

The influence of copper vapor on the low-voltage circuit breaker arcs is studied. A three-dimensional （3-D） magnetohydrodynamics（MHD） model of arc motion under the effect of external magnetic field is built up. By adopting the commercial computational fluid dynamics （CFD） package FLUENT based on control-volume method, the above MHD model is solved. For the mediums of air-1% Cu and air-10% Cu, the distributions of stationary temperature, pressure, electrical potential and the arc motion processes are compared with those of a pure air arc. The copper vapor diffusion process in the arc chamber and the distribution of copper vapor mass concentration are also simulated. The results shows that the copper vapor has a cooling effect on the arc plasma and can decrease the stationary voltage as well. Moreover, the presence of copper vapor can decelerate the arc motion in the quenching chambers. The maximal copper vapor concentration locates behind the arc root because of the existence of a ＂double vortex＂ near the electrodes.     

Axial Magnetic Field Effects on Xenon Short-Arc Lamps

The effect of an axial magnetic field （AMF） on an old xenon short-arc lamp is experimentally investigated in this work. As the AMF increases up to 18 roT, the visible radiation power and electric power ascend more than 80% and 70% respectively, and the radiation efficiency is improved by 23% for the best increment at 12 mT AMF. The measurement of radiation intensity shows that the increment of radiation intensity comes mostly from the plasma area close to the cathode tip, and partially from the other area of the arc column. Successive images of the arc indicate that the arc column not only rotates about its axis, but revolves around the axis of electrodes with the AMF. The arc column structure is constricted, distorted and elongated as the AMF increases. It is suggested that the improvements of the radiation intensity and radiation efficiency are attributed to the constriction of the arc column, which is mainly induced by the enhanced cathode jet.     

Time-Dependent 2D Modeling of Magnetron Plasma Torch in Turbulent Flow

A theoretical model is presented to describe the electromagnetic, heat transfer and fluid flow phenomena within a magnetron plasma torch and in the resultant plume, by using a commercial computational fluid dynamics （CFD） code FLUENT. Specific calculations are pre- sented for a pure argon system （i.e., an argon plasma discharging into an argon environment）, operated in a turbulent mode. An important finding of this work is that the external axial magnetic field （AMF） may have a significant effect on the behavior of arc plasma and thus affects the resulting plume. The AMF impels the plasma to retract axially and expand radially. As a result, the plasma intensity distribution on the cross section of torch seems to be more uniform. Numerical results also show that with AMF, the highest plasma temperature decreases and the anode arc root moves upstream significantly, while the current density distribution at the anode is more concentrated with a higher peak value. In addition, the use of AMF then induces a strong backflow at the torch spout and its magnitude increases with the AMF strength but decreases with the inlet gas velocity.     

Deactivating Metal Particle by Optimizing Insulation Configuration in Spark Gap Switch

As a new method to protect the spark gap from metal particle contamination, the effect of the metal inserted insulator on the controlling behavior of metal particles was investigated in a quasi-uniform electric field. Considering that the inserted metal electrodes can decrease the electric field around the insulator and divert the electrostatic force away from the insulator, the method can be used to prevent the particles from moving toward the insulator so as to reduce the possibility of a breakdown. The inserted metal electrodes can reverse the direction of the particles＇ horizontal motion. A study on the insulator shape indicates that the inserted metal electrodes can repulse the particle and improve the particle lifting voltage significantly near the vertical surface of the insulator or ribbed insulator. For the insulator with a tilting surface the inserted metal electrodes have little influence on the particle motion. In addition, the size of the inserted electrodes shows a significant effect on the control of particle motion.     

Development of Data Acquisition Card Driver for ICRH System on EAST

Presented in this paper is the development of the driver for the data acquisition card with a peripheral component interconnection （PCI） local bus on the ion cyclotron range of frequency heating （1CRH） system. The driver is mainly aimed at the embedded VxWorks system （real-time operating system） which is widely used in various fields of real-time systems. An efficient way is employed to develop this driver, which will advance the real-time control of the ICRH system on the experimental advanced superconductor tokamak （EAST）. The driver is designed using the TORNADO integrated development environment （IDE）, and implemented in C plus language. The details include the hardware configuration, analogue/digital （A/D） and digital/analogue （D/A） conversion, input and output （I/O） operation of the driver to support over five cards. The data acquisition card can be manipulated in a low-level program and meet the requirements of A/D conversion and D/A outputs.