Production of intense metal ion beams from ECR ion sources using the MIVOC method

Abstract

The production of metal ion beams by electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) ion sources using the MIVOC (Metal Ions from Volatile Compounds) method is described. The method is based on the use of metal compounds which have high vapor pressure at room temperature, e.g., C2B10H12, Fe(C5H5)2, etc. Intense ion beams of B and Fe were produced using this method at the FLNR JINR cyclotrons. Experiments on the production of cobalt, chromium, vanadium, germanium, and hafnium ion beams were performed at the test bench of ECR ion sources. Main efforts were put into production and acceleration of 50Ti ion beams at the U-400 cyclotron. The experiments on the production of 50Ti ion beams were performed at the test bench using natural and enriched compounds of titanium (CH3)5C5Ti(CH3)3. In these experiments, 80 μA 48Ti5+ and 70 μA 48Ti11+ beam currents were obtained at different settings of the source. Following successful tests, two 3-week runs were performed with 50Ti beams at the U-400 cyclotron aimed to perform experiments on the spectroscopy of superheavy elements. The intensity of the injected 50Ti5+ beam was 50–60 μA. The source worked stably during experiments. The compound consumption rate was determined at about 2.4 mg/h, which corresponded to the 50Ti consumption of 0.6 mg/h.