Duoplasmatron

Duoplasmatron, an invention of Manfred von Ardenne, is a type of ion beam source. The duoplasmatron operates as follows: a cathode filament emits electrons into a vacuum chamber. A gas such as Argon is introduced in very small quantities into the chamber, where it becomes charged or ionized through interactions with the free electrons from the cathode, forming a plasma. The plasma is then accelerated through a series of at least two highly charged grids, and becomes an ion beam, moving at fairly high speed from the aperture of the device.

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The Duoplasmatron has been used for applications as diverse as semiconductor manufacture, and spacecraft propulsion.