Ion acceleration enhanced by additional neutralizing electrons in a magnetically expanding double layer plasma

Electrons neutralizing an ion beam are additionally supplied to a magnetically expanding double layer (DL) plasma from the downstream side of the DL. The rf power and the argon gas pressure are maintained at 200 W and 55 mPa, respectively, and the source magnetic field is varied in the range of about 70-550 G. It is observed that the ion beam energy corresponding to the DL potential drop increases up to 30 eV with an increase in the magnetic field when supplying the additional electrons, while it saturates at 20 eV for the case of the absence of the additional electrons. The supplied electrons are believed to be an energy source for the DL such that increasing the magnetic field is able to increase the potential drop beyond the limit found in the absence of the supplied electrons.