Analysis of the nitrogen ion beam generated in a low-energy plasma focus device by a Faraday cup operating in the secondary electron emission mode

Abstract

The energy distribution and flux of fast nitrogen particles generated in a Mather-type plasma focus device operating at 0.4 Torr of N/sub 2/ pressure is reported. A Faraday cup operating in the secondary electron emission mode was employed. To determine the total number of beam particles, multiple scattering of the ions was taken into account. It has been possible to register the ion energy up to a lower kinetic energy threshold of /spl ap/50 keV, which is a value much lower than that obtained with a Thomson spectrometer in a previous work.