Measurements of charge state breeding efficiency at BNL test EBIS

Abstract

Charge breeding of singly charged ions is required to efficiently accelerate rare isotope ion beams for nuclear and astrophysics experiments, and to enhance the accuracy of low-energy Penning trap-assisted spectroscopy. An efficient charge breeder for the Californium Rare Isotope Breeder Upgrade (CARIBU) to the ANL Tandem Linear Accelerator System (ATLAS) facility is being developed using the BNL Test Electron Beam Ion Source (Test EBIS) as a prototype. Parameters of the CARIBU EBIS charge breeder are similar to those of the BNL Test EBIS except the electron beam current will be adjustable in the range from 1 to 2 A. The electron beam current density in the CARIBU EBIS trap will be significantly higher than in existing operational charge state breeders based on the EBIS concept. The charge state breeding efficiency is expected to be about 25% for the isotope ions extracted from the CARIBU. For the success of our EBIS project, it is essential to demonstrate high breeding efficiency at the BNL Test EBIS tuned to the regime close to the parameters of the CARIBU EBIS at ANL. The breeding efficiency optimization and measurements have been successfully carried out using a Cs surface ionization ion source for externally pulsed injection into the BNL Test EBIS. A Cs ion beam with a total number of ions of 5×108 and optimized pulse length of 70 μs has been injected into the Test EBIS and charge-bred for 5.3 ms for two different electron beam currents 1 and 1.5 A. In these experiments we have achieved 70% injection/extraction efficiency and breeding efficiency into the most abundant charge state ∼17%. © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.