Abstract. Injectors of deuterium atom beams developing for ITER plasma heating and current drive are based on the negative ion acceleration and further neutralization with a gas target. The maximal efficiency of a gas stripping process is 60%. The replacement of the gas neutralizer by plasma one must increase the neutral yield to 80%. The experimental study overview of the microwave discharge in a multi-cusp magnetic system chosen as a base device for Plasma Neutralizer realization and the design development for ITER Neutral Beam Injectors are presented. The experimental results achieved at a plasma neutralizer model PNX-U is discussed. Plasma confinement, gas flows, ionization degree were investigated. The plasma in the volume 0.5m3 with density ne 1018m- 3 has been achieved at power density 80kW/m3 in operation with Argon.
IAEA 2001