Study of Various Modes of Operation of an IEC Device

Inertial electrostatic confinement fusion devices are compact sources of neutrons, protons, electrons and X-rays. Such sources have many applications. Improving the efficiency of the device also increases the number of applications of this device. Hence a thorough understanding of the operation of this device is needed. In this paper we study the various modes in which an IEC device can be operated. The device seems to perform better when RF power is used. Furthermore, the amount of current that the power source can drive at a given pressure and grid voltage is dependent on the frequency applied to the grid—the higher the frequency the higher the cathode current. The device has been tested up to 320 kHz and the power supply current kept increasing up to this frequency. The higher limit was not reached by the present RF power supply. Another effect observed with the use of RF power is that the ionization source is more homogeneous relative to electron source ionization. This could mean that the heat load on the cathode is more evenly distributed. Such an even heat distribution would allow higher power operation.