High Current Negative Hydrogen Ion Source

The Spallation Neutron Source at ORNL requires a high current, high brightness source of negative hydrogen ions. In particular, there is a desire to increase both the current during a pulse and the duty cycle without increasing source emittance. Busek Co. Inc. and Worcester Polytechnic Institute plan to leverage over two decades of plasma thruster development into providing a plasma source which can provide a high flux of vibrationally excited hydrogen which can be converted into negative ions. This will be produced in Phase 1, while a complete negative ion source will be completed in Phase 2. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits: Negative ion sources are primarily used in accelerators for charge exchange injection into synchrotrons or spallation neutron source storage rings (as in the current project) or to produce neutral particle beams which can be used to heat fusion plasmas or as space weapons. They may also be used in tandem accelerators or for accelerator mass spectrometry. Higher negative ion currents would increase performance in all these applications.