A future, intense source of negative hydrogen ions

By directly heating lithium hydride in a vacuum, up to 18 micro-A/sq cm of negative hydrogen has been obtained from the crystal lattice. The amount of ion current extracted and analyzed is closely related to the temperature of the sample and to the rate at which the temperature is changed. The ion current appears to be emission limited and saturates with extraction voltage. For a fixed extraction voltage, the ion current could be maximized by placing a grid between the sample surface and the extraction electrode. Electrons accompanying the negative ions were removed by a magnetic trap. A Wein velocity filter was designed and built to provide definitive mass analysis of the extracted ion species. This technique when applied to other alkali hydrides may produce even higher intensity beams possessing low values of emittance.