Analysis of Effects of the Arc Voltage on Arc Discharges in a Cathode Ion Source of Neutral Beam Injector

A hot cathode bucket ion source is used for the EAST (experimental advanced superconducting tokamak) neutral beam injector. The thermal electrons emitted from the surface of the cathode are extracted and accelerated by the electric field formed by the arc voltage, which is applied between the arc chamber of the ion source and the cathode. This paper analyzes the effects of arc voltage on the arc discharge in a hot cathode high current ion source.