Quantification of the Electron Plasma in TItan's Cooler Penning Trap

Abstract

Modern rare isotope facilities provide beams of short- lived radionuclides primarily for studies in the field of nu- clear structure, nuclear astrophysics, and low energy par- ticle physics. At these facilities, many activities such as re-acceleration, improvement of resolving power, and preci- sion experimental measurements require charge breeding of ions. However, the charge breeding process can increase the energy spread of an ion bunch, adversely affecting the exper- iment. A Cooler Penning Trap (CPET) is being developed to address such an energy spread by means of sympathetic electron cooling of the Highly Charged Ion bunches to ? 1 eV/q. Recent work has focused on developing a strategy to effectively detect the trapped electron plasma without ob- structing the passage of ions through the beamline. The first offline tests demonstrate the ability to trap and detect more than 108 electrons. This was achieved by using a novel wire mesh detector as a diagnostic tool for the electrons.