Application of optical emission spectroscopy to high current proton sources

Optical Emission Spectroscopy (OES) represents a very reliable technique to carry out non-invasive measurements of plasma density and plasma temperature in the range of tens of eV. With respect to other diagnostics, it also can characterize the different populations of neutrals and ionized particles constituting the plasma. At INFN-LNS, OES techniques have been developed and applied to characterize the plasma generated by the Flexible Plasma Trap, an ion source used as "testbench" of the proton source built for European Spallation Source. This work presents the characterization of the parameters of a hydrogen plasma in different conditions of neutral pressure, microwave power and magnetic field profile, along with perspectives for further upgrades of the OES diagnostics system.