Effect of anode designs on ion emission characteristics of a plasma focus device

A comparative study on the ion emission characteristics such as flux and energy, and their variation in angular positions and operating gas pressures has been carried out in a nitrogen-filling plasma focus device. Three different designs of cylindrical anode (central electrode) having hollow, solid and hemispherical tip have been tested for this study. The ion emission characteristics were investigated by employing three Faraday cups at various angular positions. The ion flux depends on the operating gas pressure irrespective of the anode designs and the maximum ion flux is found to be in the pressure range 0.3 to 0.5 Torr for all the anode designs. The hemispherical anode yields highest ion flux while the hollow anode emits lowest ion flux. The angular variation of ion flux is seen to be anisotropic irrespective of the anode designs with an ion dip at 0 degrees (axis of the device) and maximal at 5 degrees angular positions. The anisotropic character of ion emission is less in the case of the hemispherical anode than the hollow anode. The ion energy, measured by the time of flight method, shows its dependence on the anode designs. The maximum ion energy is found to be around 830 keV at an angular position 5 degrees in the case of the hemispherical anode design. The most probable ions are found to be with energy less than 100 keV irrespective of the anode designs and the angular positions. This study indicates that the plasma focus device could be optimized to a great extent for optimal ions yield by using an appropriate anode design.