A Cost-Effective Microwave Ion Source Test Stand

Turkish Accelerator Center (TAC) Proton Accelerator Facility (PAF) is a project proposal that aims to build a megawatt (MW) power proton accelerator in Turkey. The proton source of this project was chosen as a microwave discharge ion source due to its long life time, its high current, and its lower maintenance requirements when compared with other ion source types. A microwave discharge ion source test stand was built to gain experience for TAC PAF and for similar projects requiring high beam current in Turkey. A magnetron with 2.45-GHz frequency, 50-Hz repetition rate, and 150-W fixed power was used to create the hydrogen plasma. Two different electrode systems were experimented: the first design consists of 2-mm radius plasma electrode that extracts beam currents up to 0.75 mA and the second design consists of 4-mm radius plasma electrode that extracts beam currents up to 5.2 mA.