Critical energy in the cyclotron heating of ions in an ECR plasma source

Abstract

The problem of plasma cyclotron heating in ECR plasma sources, to sustain the discharge, remains important at present. There are two methods for the analysis of this problem. The first one is the one particle stochastic mechanism and the second one is related with the non-linear interaction of waves where the collective behaviour of particles becomes the most important. In this work, in the Hamilton formalism, the stochastic mechanism of the cyclotron heating is analyzed. It is considered the case of an ECR plasma source where a TE11 electromagnetic wave is applied. The critical energy for the resonance mixing is calculated an by the “section-of-surface” method the inhomogeneity of the external magnetic field is analyzed.