Design of a 10 GHz minimum-B quadrupole permanent magnet electron cyclotron resonance ion source

Abstract

This paper presents a simulation study of a permanent magnet electron cyclotron resonance ion source (ECRIS) with a minimum-B quadrupole magnetic field topology. The magnetic field is made to conform to conventional ECRIS with Bmin/BECR of 0.67 and a last closed magnetic isosurface of 1.86BECR at 10 GHz. The distribution of magnetic field gradients parallel to the field, affecting the electron heating efficiency, cover a range from 0 to 13 T/m, being similar to conventional ECRIS. Therefore it is expected that the novel ion source produces warm electrons and high charge state ions in significant number. Single electron tracking simulations are used to estimate plasma flux distribution on the plasma chamber walls and to provide an estimate of the ion density profile at the extraction slit then used in ion optical simulations demonstrating high transmission through the low energy beam transport. The designed ion source is intended to study if the quadrupole field topology could produce high charge state beams in comparable intensities to conventional ECRIS and efficiently transport them through a low energy beamline, thus paving the way for a superconducting ARC-ECRIS using the same field topology. Furthermore, the prospects of the presented ion source design as an injector of a single-ended accelerator for ion beam analysis are discussed.