Mass separation of a multi-component plasma flow travelling through a magnetic transport system

The travel of plasma flow produced by a dc arc through a transport system based on a curved magnetic field was studied. The characteristics of the system were the absence of a curved metallic plasma guiding duct (‘open architecture’) and the fact that the magnetic field coils were non-coaxial to the plasma flow. By means of Langmuir probe measurements it was shown that both shape and position of the cathode plasma flow at the exit of the transport system were governed by variation of currents of the magnetic coils as well as by biasing of a special electrode inserted into the plasma flow. It was found that with parameters of the transport system held constant, the plasma ions with lower m/Z were deflected more, e.g. Al ions were deflected more than Ti ions. For an arc with a composite cathode, consisting of mainly Cr–Fe–Ni, the profile of atoms of these elements at the exit of the transport system was measured by x-ray fluorescence spectrometry. The results obtained were consistent with the probe measurements, hence the transport system, in principle, may be used for spatial separation of a multi-component (in masses) plasma flow.