Ion Cyclotron Resonance Heating on Proto-MPEX

The source technology for the Plasma Materials Exposure eXperiment (MPEX) is currently being developed on the Proto-MPEX device at Oak Ridge National Laboratory1 to study fusion relevant plasma material interactions on a linear plasma machine. Radio frequency (RF) technology is used for the source and heating of the plasma on Proto-MPEX. A helicon plasma source, powered with> 100 kW of RF power at 13.56 MHz, produces a steady state plasma with peak electron density of> 6e19 m-3, Additional RF heating sources include Electron Bernstein Waves to heat the electrons to temperatures > 15 e V, as well as ion cyclotron resonance heating (ICRH) to heat ions to temperatures> 20 eV.