Low-Impurity, Electrode-less Pre-ionizer Plasma Gun for Innovative Confinement Concepts

There is a need within the fusion community for a pre-ionizer plasma source that does not produce impurities; act as a plasma limiter, either through direct contact with the plasma or open magnetic field lines; or produce significant electromagnetic interference on control and diagnostic systems. The University of Washington, in collaboration with Eagle Harbor Technologies, Inc., has developed a Low-Impurity, Pre-Ionizer Plasma Gun for Innovative Confinement Concepts. The plasma gun has been constructed and integrated with the vacuum chamber. The experimental setup includes a flux conserver so that plasma injection through a flux conserver can be demonstrated, which is important for many applications. Here we present preliminary density, temperature, and velocity data to characterize the plasma gun.