Efficient negative-ion sources for radioactive ion beam applications (abstract)

Abstract

Direct extraction, negative-surface ionization, and sputter-type sources have been designed to efficiently ionize specific members of the group VII A elements (F, Cl, Br, I, and At) for use in the nuclear structure physics and nuclear astrophysics research programs at the Holifield Radioactive Ion Beam Facility (HRIBF). A negative surface ionization source that utilizes a solid, spherical geometry, LaB6 ionizer (φ≅2.7 eV) for negatively ionizing Cl, Br, l, and At. During off-line evaluation, the ionization efficiency for Cl− generation ranged between 15% and 20% and for Br− generation, between 15% and 25%. Chemically active elements, such as fluorine, are often released from refractory host materials in a variety of molecular forms. Consequently, the LaB6 surface ionization source, described above, is ineffective for simultaneously dissociating and negatively ionizing this element. To overcome this problem, a new concept source, referred to as the kinetic ejection negative ion source (KENIS), was developed. The source utilizes the Cs-sputter technique to effectively dissociate molecular carriers and ionize F at efficiencies in excess of 7%. The source has been used on-line to inject >3×107 17F−/s into the tandem accelerator and deliver ∼3×106 17F9+/s (fully stripped) to the research station for completion of important nuclear-astrophysics experiments. In this article, emphasis will be placed on the design details, materials of construction, ion optics, operational parameters, thermal transport properties, emittances, and measured ionization efficiencies for these sources.