Hydrogen electron cyclotron resonance ion sources plasma characterization based on simple optical emission spectroscopy

Hydrogen electron cyclotron resonance ion sources plasma measurements based on simple optical emission spectroscopy on a new compact low current ion source designed and built by the authors is presented. By observing the plasma luminescence both directly and through a low-cost transmission diffraction grating, basic characterization of the Hydrogen plasma obtainable in the ion source is carried out. Through simple processing of CCD captures of these images, optimal values for the ion source relevant operation parameters, including RF power and frequency, and Hydrogen mass flow are easily obtained. Despite the simplicity of the method and its limited accuracy as compared to the use of a full standard optical spectrometric set-up, it is shown that the presented approach can cope with basic plasma diagnostic tasks as far as the successful operation of the ion source is concerned.