Generation of energetic He atom beams by a pulsed positive corona discharge

Time-of-flight measurements were made of neutral helium atom beams extracted from a repetitive, pulsed, positive-point corona discharge. Two strong neutral peaks, one fast and one slow, were observed, accompanied by a prompt photon peak and a fast ion peak. All peaks were correlated with the pulsing of the discharge. The two types of atoms appear to be formed by different mechanisms at different stages of the corona discharge. The fast atoms had energies of 190 eV and were formed at the onset of the pulsing, approximately 0.7 ms before the maximum of the photon peak. The slow peak, composed of electronically metastable He atoms, originated 30–50 ms after the photon pulse, and possessed a nearly thermal velocity distribution. The velocity distribution was typical of an undisturbed supersonic expansion with a stagnation temperature of 131 K and a speed ratio of 3.6. Peak intensities and velocities were measured as a function of source voltage, stagnation pressure, and skimmer voltage. © 1997 American Institute of Physics. @S0021-8979~97!04709-9#