Experiments on Ion Cyclotron Resonance

Abstract

Theoretical calculations have indicated that an attractive possibility for heating the ions of a plasma directly, swiftly, and efficiently is to feed energy into ion cyclotron waves and cause this wave energy to thermalize. Experiments at the milliwatt power level verify the existence of a resonance in a helium plasma at the cyclotron frequency of the doubly charged helium ion. The variation of the plasma loading with magnetic field strength is markedly asymmetrical, in agreement with the theory of ion cyclotron wave generation. The observed plasma loading indicates an efficiency of power transfer between the induction coil and the plasma greater than 60%.