Determination of the ion beam energy width in tandem Van de Graaff accelerators via Auger projectile spectroscopy

Abstract

Fast ion beams delivered by tandem Van de Graaff accelerators intrinsically have an energy width, ΔEP/EP, due to the voltage ripple of the accelerator, the production mechanism of the highly charged ions inside the tank of the accelerator, as well as geometrical considerations related to the propagation of the ion beam. The ion beam energy width directly affects the experimental resolution and thus its value should be considered in experiments and the corresponding data analysis. Here, we present a method for determining the energy width of ion beams delivered by tandem Van de Graaff accelerators, based on high resolution Auger projectile electron spectroscopy combined with data analysis via Monte Carlo simulations within the SIMION ion optics package.