Towards a better comprehension of plasma formation and heating in high performances electron cyclotron resonance ion sources (invited)

Further improvements of electron cyclotron resonance ion sources (ECRIS) output currents and average charge state require a deep understanding of electron and ion dynamics in the plasma. This paper will discuss the most recent advances about modeling of non-classical evidences like the sensitivity of electron energy distribution function to the magnetic field detuning, the influence of plasma turbulences on electron heating and ion confinement, the coupling between electron and ion dynamics. All these issues have in common the non-homogeneous distribution of the plasma inside the source: the abrupt density drop at the resonance layer regulates the heating regimes (from collective to turbulent), the beam formation mechanism and emittance. Possible means to boost the performances of future ECRIS will be proposed. In particular, the use of Bernstein waves, in preliminary experiments performed at Laboratori Nazionali del Sud (LNS) on MDIS (microwave discharge ion sources)-type sources, has permitted to sustain largely overdense plasmas enhancing the warm electron temperature, which will make possible in principle the construction of sources for high intensity multicharged ions beams with simplified magnetic structures. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3672107]