Generation of a homogeneous plasma and wide ion beams in a penning system with a nonequipotential cathode

A study is made of the possibility of controlling the spatial distribution of the degree of ionization in a modified Penning cell with a cathode divided into several sections that are at different potentials. It is shown that an almost uniform plasma can be produced when applying an optimal potential of the control electrode. This enables the generation of wide ion beams in this system. An ion extraction efficiency of several tens of percent is achieved, which is substantially higher than in conventional ion sources.