A COMPARISON OF THE LI-EMISSION PROPERTIES OF PASTY, LIQUID AND GLASSY BETA-EUCRYPTITE ION SOURCES()

The Li+ emission properties of the beta-eucryptite compound in the pas ty, liquid and glassy forms were investigated. It was found that the l iquid beta-eucryptite emits ten times more lithium than does its pasty counterpart whereas the glassy one not only keeps this high emission property but is also a very convenient Li+ ion source due to its being much easier to handle, making it a valuable candidate for a Li+-ion s ource for low-energy fast neutral lithium beam diagnostics (<10 keV). Our results suggest that it should be possible to measure the plasma-d ensity fluctuations besides the densities with such diagnostics. The l ifetime of the lithium emitter in high-current-extraction mode is much increased when glassy sources are used. Furthermore, using the same t ransformation method for all other aluminosilicates used for extractio n of alkali-metal and thallium ions may improve their output, making n ew possibilities available in the area of basic atomic physics and in the field of heavy-ion-beam probe plasma diagnostics.