title: Experimental electron energy distribution function investigation at initial stage of electron cyclotron resonance discharge.
abstract: Experimental investigation is undertaken to study formation of electron energy distribution function (EEDF) at the initial stage of electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) discharge inside magnetic mirror trap. In experiment, where discharge was initiated by high power radiation of gyrotron operated in the mm-wavelength range, electrons were revealed to leave the trap having EEDF be quite different from Maxwellian one. Specifically, the EEDF was found to decrease slowly with energy up to 400-500 keV and drops abruptly further. The possible physical mechanisms are discussed to explain losses of high energy electrons from the trap and a limitation of their energy.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Applied Physics of Russian Academy of Sciences, 603950, 46 Ul'yanova St., N.Novgorod, Russian Federation.
authors.forename: S V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Golubev
authors.forename: I V
authors.initials: IV
authors.lastname: Izotov
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Mansfeld
authors.forename: V E
authors.initials: VE
authors.lastname: Semenov