Characteristics of voltage holding and light emission on the accelerator of JT-60U N-NBI ion source

Kikuchi, Katsumi; Akino, Noboru; Hanada, Masaya; Ikeda, Yoshitaka; Kamada, Masaki; Kawai, Mikito; Mogaki, Kazuhiko; Noto, Katsuya; Usui, Katsutomi

Voltage holding capability of the 500 kV accelerator in the JT-60 negative ion source that is one of the key issues for high performance of the JT-60 negative-ion-based NBI system was investigated. The achieved voltage holding capabilities with and without the beam acceleration were 400 kV and 455 kV, respectively. To understand a poor voltage holding capability of the negative ion source, correlation between the voltage holding capability and the light emitted inside the ion source was carefully examined. The acceleration voltage was stably applied at 400kV, where the light intensity was almost zero. Increasing the acceleration voltage beyond 400 kV, the voltage holding become very unstable where the light intensity increases in proportion to the acceleration voltage. The spectroscopy measurement showed that the light spectrum was a broad wavelength of 360 - 500 nm peaked at 420 nm. There was no line spectrum due to the gas discharge such as hydrogen, oxygen, carbon. From these results, it is seemed that the origin of the light emission is a cathode luminescence from the FRP (Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic) insulator in JT-60 negative ion source due to the electron impact. Moreover, breakdown phenomena at inside and outside of the ion source were examined by using photo-multipliers with fast data acquisition system. When the breakdown occurred inside the ion source, the breakdowns sequentially occurred at the spark gap switches outside of the ion source, which protect the FRP insulator from the flashover on its surface. Once the spark gap was turned on after the breakdown inside the ion source, the breakdowns at the spark gap occurred at lower voltage than the normal set value when the high voltage was applied again after 70 ms interval. This result indicates that the voltage holding capability was limited by the spark gap switches in this operational sequence.