Latest experimental and theoretical advances in the production of negative ions in caesium-free plasmas

This topical review gathers the last updates concerning caesium-free negative ion sources presented during the 63rd Course of the International school of Quantum Electronics of the Ettore Majorana Foundation and European collaborative works related to these lectures. Hence, beyond the frame of this course this topical review addresses both theoretical and experimental work performed during these last few years and complexities represented by the conception of a negative ion source ranging from the creation of negative ions to their neutralization. Graphic abstract