Particle flux characteristics of a compact high-field cascaded arc plasma device

A new compact cascaded arc device for plasma-wall interaction study is developed at the Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. A magnetic field up to 0.8 T is achieved to confine plasmas in a 1.2 m long and 0.1 m diameter vacuum chamber. Gas fluid type analysis in this compact vacuum system was done under high particle flux condition. The gas pressure obtained by calculation was consistent with the measurement result. Continuous argon plasma discharge with ion flux of ∼0.5 × 10²⁴ m⁻² s⁻¹ is successfully sustained for more than 1 h. The effects of magnetic field configuration, gas flow rate, and discharge arc current on the ion flux to target were studied in detail.