Charge exchange effects in ion diodes

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Abstract
A new one-dimensional particle simulation code has been developed to investigate the effect of charge exchange between the ions and background neutrals in a planar anode-cathode gap. The code has been used to study the effect of beam ions charge exchanging with neutrals in the anode plasma in an ion diode. Charge exchange creates a fast neutral population which expands into the gap much faster than the anode plasma itself. This flux quickly increases the neutral density throughout the gap. Furthermore, multiple charge exchanges reduce the ion flux and mean energy, and broaden the ion beam energy distribution. A description of the code and quantitative results of these effects are presented.