The Measurements of Ion Currents and Ion Energy Distributions in the Hanbit Mirror Plasma Heated by ICRF

Ion cyclotron resonant heating (ICRH) experiments have been carried out on the central cell of the HANBIT magnetic mirror. In these experiments were tested startup, heating, electrostatic ion confinement and electric potential modification which makes use of the electron cyclotron resonant heating (ECRH).

The ions heated by the wave are generally either reflected near magnetic field or are eventually disappeared into the loss cone. The small Faraday cup is used to measure the ions heated by the RF wave. End loss analyzers, types of electrostatic potential multi-grid Faraday cup have been used to measure the current and the axial energy distribution of ions escaping along magnetic field lines in the magnetic mirror machine. The change of the end loss ion current was shown to be consistent with the measured changes in the plasma potential when the ECRH occurred at the Plug region.