Comparative characteristics of laser and electron beam ion sources at the linac LU-20

Abstract

The Laser Ion Source (LIS) has been operating at the preinjector of the linac LU-20 since 1976. The linac LU-20 is an injector of the Synchrophasotron and the Nuclotron at the Laboratory of High Energies.The main operating principle of the source is ion extraction from laser plasma produced in a vacuum chamber by focusing laser radiation on a solid target surface. At present the LIS is used to perform experiments on relativistic beams of Li, B, C, N, O, F, Mg and Si nuclei.The EBIS `Krion' has been operating at the linac LU-20 since 1977. 12C6+, 14N7+, 16O8+, 20Ne10+ and 22Ne10+ nuclei were accelerated at first in the linac and then in the Synchrophasotron.40Ar18+, 84Kr35+,36+ and 131Xe53+,54+ ions are produced by the EBIS `Krion-2'. 32S14+, 40Ar14+,15+,16+,17+ and 84Kr29+ ions from the EBIS `Krion-C' injected into the linac were accelerated in 1993. Sulphur nuclei were accelerated in the Synchrophasotron.A comparison of the intensities reached behind the linac for both these sources shows that the LIS has an essential advantage in producing ions of the elements placed in the first three lines of Mendeleev's table.The comparison of the ionization states of heavy ions shows that these states for the EBIS essentially exceed the LIS ones.