Improvement of the characterization of the proton source for the European Spallation Source by means of optical emission spectroscopy

Abstract

At the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare–Laboratori Nazionali del Sud (INFN-LNS), the commissioning of the high intensity proton source for the European Spallation Source (PS-ESS) has been recently completed. Optical emission spectroscopy measurements carried out with PS-ESS permitted, in a noninvasive way, the evaluation of the electron density, temperature, and relative abundances of the neutral components of a hydrogen plasma. This approach is helpful in finding the optimal source parameters exploiting protons or H_{2}^{+} beams production.