0000000000018599
AUTHOR
J. Angot
Plasma diagnostic tools for ECR ion sources : What can we learn from these experiments for the next generation sources
International audience; The order-of-magnitude performance leaps of ECR ion sources over the past decades result from improvements to the magnetic plasma confinement, increases in the microwave heating frequency, and techniques to stabilize the plasma at high densities. Parallel to the technical development of the ion sources themselves, significant effort has been directed into the development of their plasma diagnostic tools. We review the recent results of Electron Cyclotron Resonance Ion Source (ECRIS) plasma diagnostics highlighting a number of selected examples of plasma density, electron energy distribution, and ion confinement time measurements, obtained mostly with the second-gener…
Diagnostics of a charge breeder electron cyclotron resonance ion source helium plasma with the injection ofNa231+ions
This work describes the utilization of an injected 23Na1+ ion beam as a diagnostics of the helium plasma of a charge breeder electron cyclotron resonance ion source. The obtained data allows estimating the upper limit for the ion-ion collision mean-free path of the incident sodium ions, the lower limit of ion-ion collision frequencies for all charge states of the sodium ions and the lower limit of the helium plasma density. The ion-ion collision frequencies of high charge state ions are shown to be at least on the order of 1–10 MHz and the plasma density is estimated to be on the order of 1011 cm−3 or higher. The experimental results are compared to simulations of the 23Na1+ capture into t…
Charge breeding at GANIL: Improvements, results, and comparison with the other facilities
International audience; The 1+/n+ method, based on an ECRIS charge breeder (CB) originally developed at the LPSC laboratory, is now implemented at GANIL for the production of Radioactive Ion Beams (RIBs). Prior to its installation in the middle of the low energy beam line of the SPIRAL1 facility, the 1+/n+ system CB has been modified based on the experiments performed on the CARIBU Facility at Argone National Laboratory. Later, it has been tested at the 1+/n+ LPSC test bench to validate its operation performances. Charge breeding efficiencies as well as charge breeding times have been measured for noble gases and alkali elements. The commissioning phase started at GANIL in the second half-y…
Experimental activities with the LPSC charge breeder in the European context
WEOBMH01; International audience; One of the Work Packages of the "Enhanced Multi-Ionization of short-Lived Isotopes at EURISOL"NuPNET project focuses on the ECR charge breeding.The LPSC charge breeder is used for experimental studiesin order to better understand the fundamental processesinvolved in the 1+ beam capture by a 14 GHz ECRplasma. Some improvements, like symmetrisation of themagnetic field at the injection side and higher pumpingspeed, have been carried out on the PHOENIX chargebreeder. The impact of these modifications on theefficiencies and charge breeding times are presented. Inthe same time, the new LPSC 1+ source developmentsperformed in order to ease the efficiency measurem…
Estimating ion confinement times from beam current transients in conventional and charge breeder ECRIS
International audience; Cumulative ion confinement times are probed by measuring decaying ion current transients in pulsed material injection mode. The method is applied in a charge breeder and conventional ECRIS yielding mutually corroborative results. The cumulative confinement time estimates vary from approximately 2 ms–60 ms with a clear dependence on the ion charge-to-mass ratio—higher charges having longer residence times. The long cumulative confinement times are proposed as a partial explanation to recently observed unexpectedly high ion temperatures. The results are relevant for rare ion beam (RIB) production as the confinement time and the lifetime of stable isotopes can be used f…
Recent improvements of the LPSC charge breeder
International audience; PSC has developed the PHOENIX electron cyclotron resonance Charge Breeder since 2000. The performances have been improved over time acting on the 1+ and N+ beam optics, the base vacuum and the 1+ beam injection. A new objective is to update the booster design to enhance high charge state production and 1+ N+ efficiencies, reduce the co-extracted background beam and improve the ion source tunability. The first step, consisting in increasing the peak magnetic field at injection from 1.2 T to 1.6 T was implemented and significant improvement in 1+N+ efficiencies are reported: 12.9% of 23Na8+, 24.2% of 40Ar8+, 13.3% of 132Xe26+ and 13% of 133Cs26+. The next steps of the …
Ionization efficiency studies with charge breeder and conventional electron cyclotron resonance ion source
Radioactive Ion Beams play an increasingly important role in several European research facility programs such as SPES, SPIRAL1 Upgrade, and SPIRAL2, but even more for those such as EURISOL. Although remarkable advances of ECRIS charge breeders (CBs) have been achieved, further studies are needed to gain insight on the physics of the charge breeding process. The fundamental plasma processes of charge breeders are studied in the frame of the European collaboration project, EMILIE, for optimizing the charge breeding. Important information on the charge breeding can be obtained by conducting similar experiments using the gas mixing and 2-frequency heating techniques with a conventional JYFL 14 …
Optimizing charge breeding techniques for ISOL facilities in Europe: conclusions from the EMILIE project
ThuM07; International audience; The present paper summarizes the results obtained from the past few years in the framework ofthe Enhanced Multi-Ionization of short-Lived Isotopes for Eurisol (EMILIE) project. The EMILIEproject aims at improving the charge breeding techniques with both Electron Cyclotron ResonanceIon Sources (ECRIS) and Electron Beam Ion Sources (EBISs) for European Radioactive Ion Beam(RIB) facilities. Within EMILIE, an original technique for debunching the beam from EBIS chargebreeders is being developed, for making an optimal use of the capabilities of CW post-acceleratorsof the future facilities. Such a debunching technique should eventually resolve duty cycle andtime st…
New exotic beams from the SPIRAL 1 upgrade
Since 2001, the SPIRAL 1 facility has been one of the pioneering facilities in ISOL techniques for reaccelerating radioactive ion beams: the fragmentation of the heavy ion beams of GANIL on graphite targets and subsequent ionization in the Nanogan ECR ion source has permitted to deliver beams of gaseous elements (He, N, O, F, Ne, Ar, Kr) to numerous experiments. Thanks to the CIME cyclotron, energies up to 20 AMeV could be obtained. In 2014, the facility was stopped to undertake a major upgrade, with the aim to extend the production capabilities of SPIRAL 1 to a number of new elements. This upgrade, which is presently under commissioning, consists in the integration of an ECR booster in the…
Injected 1+ ion beam as a diagnostics tool of charge breeder ECR ion source plasmas
International audience; Charge breeder electron cyclotron resonance ion sources (CB-ECRIS) are used as 1+ →n+ charge multiplication devices of post-accelerated radioactive ion beams. The charge breeding process involves thermalization of the injected 1+ ions with the plasma ions in ion–ion collisions, subsequent ionization by electron impact and extraction of the n+ ions. Charge breeding experiments of 85Rb and 133Cs ion beams with the 14.5 GHz PHOENIX CB-ECRIS operating with oxygen gas demonstrate the plasma diagnostics capabilities of the 1+ injection method. Two populations can be distinguished in the m/q-spectrum of the extracted ion beams, the low (1+ and 2+) charge states repres…
Method for estimating charge breeder ECR ion source plasma parameters with short pulse 1+ injection
A new method for determining plasma parameters from beam current transients resulting from short pulse 1+ injection into a Charge Breeder Electron Cyclotron Resonance Ion Source (CB-ECRIS) has been developed. The proposed method relies on few assumptions, and yields the ionisation times $1/n_e\left\langle\sigma v\right\rangle^{\text{inz}}_{q\to q+1}$, charge exchange times $1/n_0\left\langle\sigma v\right\rangle^{\text{cx}}_{q\to q-1}$, the ion confinement times $\tau^q$, as well as the plasma energy contents $n_e\left\langle E_e\right\rangle$ and the plasma triple products $n_e \left\langle E_e\right\rangle \tau^q$. The method is based on fitting the current balance equation on the extract…
Diagnostics of a charge breeder electron cyclotron resonance ion source helium plasma with the injection of 23 Na 1+ ions
This work describes the utilization of an injected 23Na1þ ion beam as a diagnostics of the helium plasma of a charge breeder electron cyclotron resonance ion source. The obtained data allows estimating the upper limit for the ion-ion collision mean-free path of the incident sodium ions, the lower limit of ion-ion collision frequencies for all charge states of the sodium ions and the lower limit of the helium plasma density. The ion-ion collision frequencies of high charge state ions are shown to be at least on the order of 1–10 MHz and the plasma density is estimated to be on the order of 1011 cm−3 or higher. The experimental results are compared to simulations of the 23Na1þ capture into th…
The effect of plasma instabilities on the background impurities in charge breeder ECRIS
International audience; Experimental observations of plasma instabilities in the 14.5 GHz PHOENIX charge breeder ECRIS are summarized. It has been found that the injection of 133Cs+ or 85Rb+ into oxygen discharge of the CB-ECRIS can trigger electron cyclotron instabilities, which results to sputtering of the surfaces exposed to the plasma, followed by up to an order of magnitude increase of impurity currents in the extracted n+ charge state distribution. The transition from stable to unstable plasma regime is caused by gradual accumulation and ionization of Cs/Rb altering the discharge parameters in 10 - 100 ms time scale, not by a prompt interaction between the incident ion beam and the EC…
Method for estimating charge breeder ECR ion source plasma parameters with short pulse 1+ injection of metal ions
Abstract A new method for determining plasma parameters from beam current transients resulting from short pulse 1+ injection of metal ions into a charge breeder electron cyclotron resonance ion source has been developed. The proposed method relies on few assumptions, and yields local values for the ionisation times 1 / n e σ v q → q + 1 inz , charge exchange times 1 / n 0 σ v q → q − 1 cx , the ion confinement times τ q , as well as estimates for the minimum plasma energy contents n e E e and the plasma triple products n e E e τ q . The method is based on fitting the current balance equation on the extracted beam currents of high charge state ions, and using the fitting coefficients to dete…
Plasma instabilities of a charge breeder ECRIS
International audience; Experimental observation of plasma instabilities in a charge breeder electron cyclotron resonance ion source (CB-ECRIS) is reported. It is demonstrated that the injection of 133Cs+ or 85Rb+ ion beam into the oxygen discharge of the CB-ECRIS can trigger electron cyclotron instabilities, which restricts the parameter space available for the optimization of the charge breeding efficiency. It is concluded that the transition from a stable to unstable plasma regime is caused by gradual accumulation and ionization of Cs/Rb and simultaneous change of the discharge parameters in 10–100 ms time scale, not by a prompt interaction between the incident ion beam and the ECRIS pla…
Prospects for advanced electron cyclotron resonance and electron beam ion source charge breeding methods for EURISOL
International audience; As the most ambitious concept of isotope separation on line (ISOL) facility, EURISOL aims at producing unprecedented intensities of post-accelerated radioactive isotopes. Charge breeding, which transforms the charge state of radioactive beams from 1+ to an n+ charge state prior to postacceleration, is a key technology which has to overcome the following challenges: high charge states for high energies, efficiency, rapidity and purity. On the roadmap to EURISOL, a dedicated R&D is being undertaken to push forward the frontiers of the present state-of-the-art techniques which use either electron cyclotron resonance or electron beam ion sources. We describe here the gui…
Diagnostics of highly charged plasmas with multicomponent 1+ ion injection
We establish multicomponent 1+ injection into a charge breeder electron cyclotron resonance ion source and an associated computational procedure as a noninvasive probe of the electron density ne, average electron energy ⟨Ee⟩, and the characteristic times of ionization, charge exchange, and ion confinement of stochastically heated, highly charged plasma. Multicomponent injection allows refining the ne, ⟨Ee⟩ ranges, reducing experimental uncertainty. Na/K injection is presented as a demonstration. The ⟨Ee⟩ and ne of a hydrogen discharge are found to be 600+600−300eV and 8+8−3×1011cm−3, respectively. The ionization, charge exchange, and confinement times of high charge state alkali ions are on…
Charge breeding time investigations of electron cyclotron resonance charge breeders
To qualify electron cyclotron resonance charge breeders, the method that is traditionally used to evaluate the charge breeding time consists in generating a rising edge of the injected beam current and measuring the time in which the extracted multicharged ion beam reaches 90% of its final current. It is demonstrated in the present paper that charge breeding times can be more accurately measured by injecting short pulses of 1 + ions and recording the time resolved responses of N + ions. This method is used to probe the effect of the 1 + ion accumulation in the plasma known to disturb the buffer gas plasma equilibrium and is a step further in understanding the large discrepancies reported in…