High Charge State Ion Beams Research Articles

Research and development activities to increase the performance of the CAPRICE ECRIS at GSI

At GSI the CAPRICE ECRIS is in operation to deliver high charge state ion beams from gaseous and metallic elements to the accelerator facility. A test campaign has been carried out at the ECR test bench to fulfill the demand for higher intensity and stability of high charge state ions and for mixed ion beams. The ion beam stability has been monitored by an Optical Emission Spectrometer (OES), which has been already used to check the plasma and the temperature of the resistively heated oven during metal ion beam operation, particularly for Ca ion beams. During the test campaign, it was investigated that the OES can be used for monitoring the stability of ion beams from gaseous elements and mixed ion beams, and the main achieved results are reported. The ion beams extracted from the ECRIS have been simulated with a particle tracking code in order to study and improve the beam matching into the RFQ. The preliminary results of the study together with possible modifications of the extraction column are presented.

Slit extraction and emittance results of a permanent magnet minimum-B quadrupole electron cyclotron resonance ion source

We present an experimental and simulation study of high charge state ion beams produced with a permanent magnet electron cyclotron resonance ion source (ECRIS) with minimum-B quadrupole magnetic field topology and slit extraction system. The unconventional topology generates fan-shaped plasma flux, favouring a rectangular aperture for beam extraction. We demonstrate successful low-energy transport of the slit beam, achieving up to 25 times higher beam currents compared to a round extraction aperture. Maximum beam intensities are 1.5 and 15 μA for argon 11＋ and 9＋, respectively. The results indicate microwave power-limited beam production. Emittance values are comparable to traditional ECRIS. Unlike in conventional ECRIS, the emittance increases monotonically with increasing charge state due to slit extraction, magnetic topology, and beam transport characteristics. The experimental transport efficiency for helium ranges from 32% to 50%, depending on the total beam current. The losses primarily occur due to the dipole magnet’s insufficient vertical aperture.

Optical spectroscopy as a diagnostic tool for metal ion beam production with an ECRIS.

At GSI, the CAPRICE ECRIS is used to provide heavy ion beams to the UNILAC (Universal Linear Accelerator) accelerator. In order to satisfy the demand of metal ion beams, a resistively heated oven is routinely used. This evaporation technique allows the ion beam production from natural and enriched solid elements or compounds with high efficiency and low material consumption. Often it is required to provide high charge state ion beams from rare or extremely rare isotopes as 48Ca, e.g., for the investigation of super heavy elements. In order to maintain the ion beam stable for the entire scheduled beam time, the plasma inside the ion source must remain as stable as possible. The tuning of ion source parameters and oven power affecting the oven temperature and, in turn, the evaporation rate is necessary. A strong relationship between the microwave power and the oven heating was observed, thus affecting the power control, the plasma stability, and the material consumption. Hence, it was investigated how an optical spectrometer can be used as a predictive diagnostic tool to detect ion source instabilities. Furthermore, the effect of parasitic oven heating by coupling of microwaves was investigated. Optical emission spectroscopy was performed by analyzing the light from the plasma and from the oven through the extraction aperture. The measurements enabled us to distinguish between resistive heating and microwave heating. The results of this investigation are presented.

Laser ablation plasma with solenoid field confinement.

A Laser Ion Source (LIS) can produce high charge state and high intensity ion beams (∼emA), especially, refractory metallic ion beams, which makes it a promising candidate as an ion source for heavy ion cancer therapy facilities and future accelerator complexes, where pulsed high intensity and high charged heavy ion beams are required. However, it is difficult for the LIS to obtain a long pulse width while ensuring high current intensity, thus limiting the application of the LIS. To solve the conflict, magnetic fields are proposed to confine the expansion of the laser produced plasma. With a solenoid along the normal direction to the target surface, the lateral adiabatic expansion of the laser ablation plasma is suppressed which extends the pulse width of the ion beam effectively. The characteristics of laser ablation plasma with solenoid field confinement will be presented and discussed in this paper.

High intensity high charge state ion beam production with an evaporative cooling magnet ECRIS.

LECR4 (Lanzhou ECR ion source No. 4) is a room temperature electron cyclotron resonance ion source, designed to produce high current, high charge state ion beams for the SSC-LINAC injector (a new injector for sector separated cyclotron) at the Institute of Modern Physics. LECR4 also serves as a PoP machine for the application of evaporative cooling technology in accelerator field. To achieve those goals, LECR4 ECR ion source has been optimized for the operation at 18 GHz. During 2014, LECR4 ion source was commissioned at 18 GHz microwave of 1.6 kW. To further study the influence of injection stage to the production of medium and high charge state ion beams, in March 2015, the injection stage with pumping system was installed, and some optimum results were produced, such as 560 eμA of O(7+), 620 eμA of Ar(11+), 430 eμA of Ar(12+), 430 eμA of Xe(20+), and so on. The comparison will be discussed in the paper.

Kinetic instabilities in pulsed operation mode of a 14 GHz electron cyclotron resonance ion source.

The occurrence of kinetic plasma instabilities is studied in pulsed operation mode of a 14 GHz A-electron cyclotron resonance type electron cyclotron resonance ion source. It is shown that the temporal delay between the plasma breakdown and the appearance of the instabilities is on the order of 10-100 ms. The most important parameters affecting the delay are magnetic field strength and neutral gas pressure. It is demonstrated that kinetic instabilities limit the high charge state ion beam production in the unstable operating regime.

Charge state distribution analysis of Al and Pb ions from the laser ion source at IMP

A prototype laser ion source that could demonstrate the possibility of producing intense pulsed high charge state ion beams has been established with a commercial Nd:YAG laser (Emax=3 J, 1064 nm, 8–10 ns) to produce laser plasma for the research of Laser Ion Source (LIS). At the laser ion source test bench, high purity (99.998%) aluminum and lead targets have been tested for laser plasma experiment. An Electrostatic Ion Analyzer (EIA) and Electron Multiply Tube (EMT) detector were used to analyze the charge state and energy distribution of the ions produced by the laser ion source. The maximum charge states of Al12+ and Pb7+ were achieved. The results will be presented and discussed in this paper.

ECR Based Low Energy Ion Beam Facility at VECC, Kolkata

A low energy heavy ion irradiation/implantation facility has been developed at VECC, Kolkata for materials science and atomic physics research, utilizing indigenously developed 6.4 GHz ECR ion source. The facility provides high charge state ion beams of N, O, Ne, Ar, S, Kr, Xe, Fe, Ti, Hf etc. up to a few micro amperes to an energy of 10 keV per charge state.The beam energy can be further enhanced by floating the target at a negative potential (up to 25 kV). The ion beam is focused to a spot of about 2 mm diameter on the target using a set of glaser lenses. A x-y scanner is used to scan the beam over a target area of 10 mm x 10 mm to obtain uniform implantation. The recently commissioned multi facility sample chamber has provision for mounting multiple samples on indigenously developed disposable beam viewers for insitu beam viewing during implantation. The ionization chamber of ECR source is mainly pumped by ECR plasma. An additional pumping speed has been provided through extraction hole and pumping slots to obtain low base pressure. In the ion source, base pressure of 1x10−7 Torr in injector stage and ~5x10−8 Torr in extraction chamber have been routinely obtained. The ultra-high vacuum multi facility experimental chamber is generally kept at ~ 1x10−7 Torr during implantation on the targets. This facility is a unique tool for studying fundamental and technologically important problems of materials science and atomic physics research. High ion flux available from this machine is suitable for generating high defect densities i.e. high value of displacement-per-atom (dpa). Recently this facility has been used for studies like "Tunability of dielectric constant of conducting polymer Polyaniline (PANI) by low energy Ar9+ irradiation" and "Fe10+ implantation in ZnO for synthesis of dilute magnetic semiconductor".

He2+ source based on Penning-type discharge with electron cyclotron resonant heating by millimeter waves

Electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) ion sources are particularly useful for nuclear, atomic and high energy physics, as unique high current generators of multicharged ion beams. Plasmas of gas discharges in open magnetic traps heated by pulsed high power high-frequency microwaves of gyrotrons are promising in the field of research in the development of ECR sources for high charge state ion beams. It is necessary to decrease pressure and increase plasma density to reach higher average charge of ions in the plasma. The ECR discharge could be ignited at very low gas pressure, but it takes longer time for the discharge start-up. Hence, it is impossible to realize the ECR discharge with limited microwave heating pulse duration at gas pressure below a certain threshold value. We suggest a Penning-type discharge as a trigger discharge for fast development of pulsed-ECR plasma. The Penning-type discharge glows at a low pressure as needed. Gyrotron radiation (75 GHz, 200 kW, 1 ms) was used for plasma heating. Fully striped helium ions were demonstrated, average charge of ions in the plasma was ≈2. Temporal evolution of charge state distribution as a function of helium pressure and microwave power was investigated.

Laser plasma in a magnetic field

Laser ion source (LIS) is a candidate among various heavy ion sources. A high density plasma produced by Nd:yttrium aluminum garnet laser with drift velocity realizes high current and high charge state ion beams. In order to obtain higher beam current, we made experiments using the LIS with a magnetic field by which a confinement effect can make higher beam current. We measured total current by Faraday cup and analyzed charge distribution by electrostatic ion analyzer. It is shown that the ion beam charge state is higher by a permanent magnet.

Glow plasma trigger for electron cyclotron resonance ion sources

Electron cyclotron resonance ion sources (ECRISs) are particularly useful for nuclear, atomic, and high energy physics, as unique high current generators of multicharged ion beams. Plasmas of gas discharges in an open magnetic trap heated by pulsed (100 micros and longer) high power (100 kW and higher) high-frequency (greater than 37.5 GHz) microwaves of gyrotrons is promising in the field of research in the development of electron cyclotron resonance sources for high charge state ion beams. Reaching high ion charge states requires a decrease in gas pressure in the magnetic trap, but this method leads to increases in time, in which the microwave discharge develops. The gas breakdown and microwave discharge duration becomes greater than or equal to the microwave pulse duration when the pressure is decreased. This makes reaching the critical plasma density initiate an electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) discharge during pulse of microwave gyrotron radiation with gas pressure lower than a certain threshold. In order to reduce losses of microwave power, it is necessary to shorten the time of development of the ECR discharge. For fast triggering of ECR discharge under low pressure in an ECRIS, we initially propose to fill the magnetic trap with the plasmas of auxiliary pulsed discharges in crossed ExB fields. The glow plasma trigger of ECR based on a Penning or magnetron discharge has made it possible not only to fill the trap with plasma with density of 10(12) cm(-3), required for a rapid increase in plasma density and finally for ECR discharge ignition, but also to initially heat the plasma electrons to T(e) approximately = 20 eV.

Direct plasma injection scheme in accelerators (invited)

The idea of direct plasma injection scheme (DPIS) was proposed in 2000. This new technique has been studied and proven to accelerate intense ion beams. To provide medium mass ions with highly charged states, small tabletop solid lasers were used for plasma production. Based on the measured plasma properties, aluminum and carbon ions were accelerated with more than 60mA of current. The next experiments will use an radio frequency quadrupole designed for q∕m=1∕6 and explore beam productions using targets up to silver, and future work will explore production up to uranium. The DPIS has been established and is ready to be used with various accelerators which require pulsed high current, high charge state ion beams.

Experimental study of hot electrons in LECR2M plasma

In order to investigate the hot electron component in electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) plasmas, the volume bremsstrahlung spectra in the x-ray photon energy range were measured with a high-purity germanium detector on Lanzhou ECR Ion Source No. 2 Modified (LECR2M). A collimation system similar to Bernhardi's was used to focus at the central part of the plasma. The ion source was operated under various source conditions with argon; sometimes oxygen was added to enhance high charge state ion beam intensities. The spectral temperature of hot electrons T(spe) was derived from the measured bremsstrahlung spectra. The evolution of the deduced temperature of hot electrons T(spe) with the ion source parameters, such as the rf frequency, power, and the magnetic confinement configuration, was investigated.

Ion beam capture and charge breeding in electron cyclotron resonance ion source plasmas

Beam capture of injected ions and charge breeding in electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) charge breeder ion source plasmas has been investigated utilizing an ECR plasma modeling code, the generalized ECR ion source model, and a Monte Carlo beam capture code. Beam capturing dynamics, charge breeding in the plasma, and the extracted charged ion states are described. Optimization of ion beam energy is performed for (1) high beam capture efficiency and (2) high charge state ion beam extractions. A sample case study for ANL-ECR has been performed. Ions entering ECR ion source plasma are slowed down mostly by the background ions. Assuming Maxwellian plasma ions, maximum beam energy loss occurs when the beam velocity is around the background thermal velocity in magnitude. It is also found that beam capture location affects charge state distribution. For instance, with a majority of beam ions captured near the middle of the device higher currents for higher charge states are obtained. The beam ions captured near the entry have a higher probability of backstreaming after they are captured. For this reason, the optimum beam energy of the injected Ar(+) beam ions for charge breeding is generally higher than the optimum input beam energy for maximum beam energy loss.

Experiments and modification on electron cyclotron resonance ion sources at the Institute of Modern Physics

Uranium ion beams were produced from electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) ion sources by sputtering method this year at the Institute of Modern Physics. At first, we chose the Lanzhou ECR No. 3 ion source to implement the production experiment of U ion beams. Finally, 11eμA of U28+, 5eμA of U32+, and 1.5eμA of U35+ were obtained. A U26+ ion beam produced by the LECR2 ion source was accelerated successfully by the cyclotron. This means that the Heavy Ion Research Facility in Lanzhou (HIRFL) has accomplished the acceleration of the ion beam of the heaviest element according to the designed parameters. The Lanzhou ECR ion source No. 2 (LECR2), which was built in 1997, has served the HIRFL for eight years and needed to be upgraded to provide more intense high charge state ion beams for HIRFL cooling storage ring. We started the upgrading project of LECR2 last year, and the modified design just has been finished.

Enhanced highly charged ion production using a metal-dielectric liner in the KVI 14 GHz ECR ion source

Forming on an aluminum surface a dielectric layer of alumina (aluminum oxide) in order to create a metal-dielectric (MD) structure increases the secondary-electron emission properties. The idea of using this material as a MD (Al–Al2O3) cylindrical liner inside an ECR ion source was previously tested in the 14 GHz ECRIS of IKF (Frankfurt/Main, Germany). The purpose of the present experiment was to observe the effect of such a MD liner on the high charge state operation of the KVI 14 GHz ECRIS, in particular in comparison to the technique of gas mixing. Measurements were made both with and without the MD liner, with pure argon and with an argon plus oxygen mixture. In the case of pure argon, the source with the MD liner is running remarkably stable. The high charge state ion beam currents are by far higher than those obtained in the situation where the source was operated with pure argon but without the MD liner. With MD liner, some low intensity oxygen peaks were clearly present in the spectra, implying that oxygen escaping or sputtered from the MD structure could give rise to an effect of “gas mixing.” Therefore, the effect of mixing small amounts of oxygen into an argon plasma without the liner was studied in the same conditions of rf power and O3+ peak intensity. The conclusion was that the high charge state beam increase is not due to the oxygen gas mixing effect. The reason for the good performances of the source in the presence of the MD liner can be the increased density of cold electrons, but other effects could occur as well. This is subject of further studies.

Emittance Measurements for High Charge State Ion Beams Extracted from the AECR-U Ion Source

In order to investigate the ion-optical parameters of the AECR-U injection line into the 88-Inch Cyclotron, an electrostatic-deflection-type emittance scanner has been designed and constructed. It allows fast on-line measurements, while tuning the ion beam through the cyclotron. Emittance measurements have been performed for various high charge state ions. First results indicate a strong mass dependence of the normalized beam emittance. For example the normalized rms emittance for protons (0.24 π · mm · mrad) is four times higher than for O6+ (0.06 π · mm · mrad) and about 8 times higher than Kr19+ (0.03 π · mm · mrad). Furthermore it was found, that the emittance values are approximately independent of the current at the medium ion beam intensities. The predominant factor on the beam emittance is shown to be the plasma stability. The emittance measurements and the results are discussed in the paper.

Effect of a metal–dielectric structure introduced in the plasma chamber of the Frankfurt 14 GHz electron cyclotron resonance ion source

A new approach of the possibility to significantly increase the high charge state ion beams delivered by electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) ion sources by using metal–dielectric (MD) structures characterized by high secondary electron emission properties is presented. The intensities of argon ion beams extracted from the 14 GHz electron cyclotron resonance ion source of the Institut für Kernphysik (IKF) der Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität in Frankfurt/Main were measured when a 26 mm diam disk of a specially treated MD structure (Al–Al2O3) was introduced axially close to the ECR plasma. The Ar beam intensities and charge-state distributions obtained with this disk are compared to measurements with disks of iron and pure aluminum at the same position relative to the plasma. All measurements were performed with the disk at the plasma chamber potential. The results with the MD structure show a net shift of the beam intensity towards higher charge states as compared with the other disk materials. Enhancement factors of the beam current of up to 10 (for Ar12+) when using a MD disk compared to the output when using an aluminum disk and up to 40 (for Ar11+) when using an iron disk were measured.

Developments at the CERN laser ion source

The high current, high charge-state ion beam which can be extracted from a laser produced plasma is well suited, after initial acceleration, for injection into synchrotrons. At CERN, the production of a heavy ion beam using a CO2 laser ion source is studied. The latest results of experiments with a tantalum ion beam with charge states up to 23+ and accelerated by a radio frequency quadrupole from 6.9 to 100 keV/u, are presented along with simulations of the low energy beam transport. The ion yield at the desired charge state, the pulse to pulse stability of the ion beam, and the system reliability are all of major interest. Work is under way to replace the low repetition rate free-running laser oscillator by a master oscillator and power amplifier system. The master oscillator is operational and the first results of measurements of its beam quality and stability are presented.

Production of high charge state ions with the Advanced Electron Cyclotron Resonance Ion Source at LBNL

Production of high charge state ions with the Advanced Electron Cyclotron Resonance ion source (AECR) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) has been significantly improved by application of various new techniques. Heating the plasma simultaneously with microwaves of two frequencies (10 and 14 GHz) has increased the production of very high charge state heavy ions. The two-frequency technique provides extra electron cyclotron resonance heating zone as compared to the single-frequency heating and improves the heating of the plasma electrons. Aluminum oxide on the plasma chamber surface improves the production of cold electrons at the chamber surfaces and increases the performance of the AECR. Fully stripped argon ions, ≥5 enA, were produced and directly identified by the source charge state analyzing system. High charge state ion beams of bismuth and uranium, such as 209Bi51+ and 238U53+, were produced by the source and accelerated by the 88-in. cyclotron to energies above 6 MeV/nucleon for the first time.