Photo-assisted O− and Al− production with a cesium sputter ion source

Abstract

It has been recently proposed that the production of negative ions with cesium sputter ion sources could be enhanced by laser-assisted resonant ion pair production. We have tested this hypothesis by measuring the effect of pulsed diode lasers at various wavelengths on the O− and Al− beam current produced from Al2O3 cathode of a cesium sputter ion source. The experimental results provide evidence for the existence of a wavelength-dependent photo-assisted enhancement of negative ion currents but cast doubt on its alleged resonant nature as the effect is observed for both O− and Al− ions at laser energies above a certain threshold. The beam current transients observed during the laser pulses suggest that the magnitude and longevity of the beam current enhancement depends on the cesium balance on the cathode surface. It is shown that the ions produced by the laser exposure originate from slightly different potential than the surface produced ions, which allows us to constrain the underlying physical mechanisms. It is concluded that the photo-assisted negative ion production could be of practical importance as it can more than double the extracted beam current under certain operational settings of the cesium sputter ion source. We discuss experiments designed to confirm or dispute the relevance of the ion pair production for negative ion production with cesium sputter ion sources and the possibility of ion pair production explaining the beneficial effect of xenon admixture on the negative ion yield of an RF-driven H− ion source.