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New Experiments in Continuous-Mode
Microwaves: Formation of Standing Waves
and Electron Trapping
Overview of the New Experimental System
The experimental setup consists of a stainless-steel (grade: SS-304) vacuum
chamber (VC) of length 50 cm and diameter 20 cm, with four cylindrical
arms having numerous ports for pumping, gas inlet, vacuum gauges, and
plasma diagnostics. The chamber can be evacuated to a base pressure of
~5 × 10
−7
Torr using a Varian 301 Navigator turbomolecular pump (TMP) of
pumping speed ~250 L/s, backed by a rotary pump with a speed of ~2 L/s,
with respect to nitrogen. Argon (zero grade) is used as the experimental gas ...