The effect of addition of noble gases on negative hydrogen ion production in a dc filament discharge

The effect of the addition of helium, neon, argon and xenon on the production of negative hydrogen ions has been studied in a magnetically confined dc filament discharge. The addition of helium and neon produced effects similar to an equivalent increase in hydrogen pressure. However, the addition of argon and low fractions of xenon produced significant increases in the negative ion density for hydrogen at pressures around 1 mTorr. The addition of argon and xenon, by increasing electron density and decreasing electron temperature, achieved conditions closer to optimum for negative ion production. The largest enhancement of negative hydrogen ion density occurred with the addition of argon; it is suggested that this is due to a resonant energy exchange between excited argon atoms and hydrogen molecules.