Generation Mode Stability of a Pulse Penning Discharge in Small-Scale Ion Sources

In this paper, we consider pulsing operation modes of small-sized Penning ion sources with control parameters required for well-logging equipment. The results of studies of the generation modes of a pulsed Penning discharge, the formation of ion fluxes depending on the duty cycle of the supply pulses, the amplitude of the discharge current, as well as under conditions of batch-pulse control, are presented. The stability of Penning discharge generation under conditions of wide tuning of the control system parameters is shown to be affected by the amplitude–time characteristics of the anode voltage pulses and the zero-level potential in the pauses between pulses.