The dual ion beam microprobe

Abstract

A new experimental setup for dual ion microbeam irradiation and analysis of materials has been designed and commissioned at the Ruđer Bošković Institute (RBI). Ion beams in the MeV energy range are provided by two tandem accelerators, a 1.0 MV Tandetron and a 6.0 MV EN tandem Van de Graaff. The dual microprobe end station is primarily dedicated for the performance of experiments where one ion microbeam is used for the irradiation, while the other ion microbeam is used for the analysis or ‘probing’ the in-situ changes induced during the target irradiation. Likewise, both microbeams can be also used independently, for experiments involving either ion beam characterization or ion beam irradiation techniques. The ion beam from the small tandem accelerator is focused with a magnetic quadrupole triplet, which is more suitable for the high spatial resolution work with light ions. The ion beam from the larger accelerator is focused by an electrostatic quadruplet that enables easier focusing of heavy ions. Details of the experimental setup, its capabilities in terms of ion beam irradiation and analysis techniques, as well as the first applications, are presented.