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 n_{e}, average electron energy 〈E_{e}〉, and the characteristic times of ionization, charge exchange, and ion confinement of stochastically heated, highly charged plasma. Multicomponent injection allows refining the n_{e}, 〈E_{e}〉 ranges, reducing experimental uncertainty. Na/K injection is presented as a demonstration. The 〈E_{e}〉 and n_{e} of a hydrogen discharge are found to be 600_{-300}^{+600}eV and 8_{-3}^{+8}×10^{11}cm^{-3}, respectively. The ionization, charge exchange, and confinement times of high charge state alkali ions are on the order of 1 ms-10 ms.

Charge breeders: Development of diagnostic tools to probe the underlying physics

Charge breeders were developed more than 20 years ago in the context of radioactive ion beam (RIB) production. The main goal is to boost the charge state of a singly charged RIB to a higher value matching the A/Q of a post-accelerator. In that way, the RIB produced at some tens of keV can efficiently be accelerated to energies in a range of few MeV/u up to several tens of MeV/u, which is of interest for nuclear structure and nuclear astrophysics experiments. Two families of charge breeders have been developed: one based on Electron Cyclotron Resonance Ion Sources (ECRISs) suitable for Continuous Wave (CW) operation and another built around Electron Beam Ion Sources (EBISs) used for pulsed post-accelerators. For many years, experimental studies have been carried out to enhance the charge breeding process and improve the extracted beam quality, i.e., purity, intensity, emittance, and time structure. The evolution of the charge breeders is also closely related to the emergence of new facilities delivering even more exotic beams. Diagnostic tools, such as Faraday cups, beam profile monitors, and emittance scanners, are mandatory to tune the machines and evaluate their performances. However, to go beyond that, a better understanding of plasma physics (in ECRIS) and electron-ion interactions (in EBIS), as well as the 1+ beam characteristics, for instance, energy spread transverse emittance, is needed. Therefore, simulation codes modeling the physics phenomena in both type of charge breeders were developed to support the understanding of experimental outputs and to gain insights into non-observable parameters. Nevertheless, more sophisticated diagnostic tools are required to improve the charge breeding performance and to extend the potential applications toward new RIB facilities. This Review will present the two kinds of charge breeders and their technical evolutions. It will review the diagnostic tools and simulation codes employed for operation and evaluation of the internal physics processes.

Estimating ion confinement times from beam current transients in conventional and charge breeder ECRIS

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 for estimating the extracted RIB production efficiency.

Plasma diagnostic tools for ECR ion sources-What can we learn from these experiments for the next generation sources

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-generation sources operating at frequencies from 10 to 18 GHz. The development of minimum-B ECR ion sources based on the superposition of solenoid and sextupole fields has long relied on semiempirical scaling laws for the strength of the magnetic field with increasing plasma heating frequency. This approach is becoming increasingly difficult with the looming limits of superconducting technologies being able to satisfy the magnetic field requirements at frequencies approaching 60 GHz. Thus, we discuss alternative ECRIS concepts and proposed modifications to existing sources that are supported by the current understanding derived from the plasma diagnostics experiments.

Prospect for a 60 GHz multicharged ECR ion source

The conceptual design of a fourth generation hybrid electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) ion source operated at 60 GHz is proposed. The axial magnetic mirror is generated with a set of three Nb₃Sn coils, while the hexapole is made with room temperature (RT) copper coils. The motivations for such a hybrid development are to study further the ECR plasma physics and the intense multicharged ion beams' production and transport at a time when a superconducting (SC) hexapole appears unrealistic at 60 GHz. The RT hexapole coil designed is an evolution of the polyhelix technology developed at the French High Magnetic Field Facility. The axial magnetic field is generated by means of 3 Nb₃Sn SC coils operated with a maximum current density of 350 A/mm² and a maximum coil load line factor of 81%. The ECR plasma chamber resulting from the design features an inner radius of 94 mm and a length of 500 mm. The radial magnetic intensity is 4.1 T at the wall. Characteristic axial mirror peaks are 8 and 4.5 T, with 1.45 T minimum in between.

Status of the SPIRAL2 injector commissioning

The SPIRAL2 injector, installed in its tunnel, is currently under commissioning at GANIL, Caen, France. The injector is composed of two low energy beam transport lines: one is dedicated to the light ion beam production, the other to the heavy ions. The first light ion beam, created by a 2.45 GHz electron cyclotron resonance ion source, has been successfully produced in December 2014. The first beam of the PHOENIX V2 18 GHz heavy ion source was analyzed on 10 July 2015. A status of the SPIRAL2 injector commissioning is given. An upgrade of the heavy ion source, named PHOENIX V3 aimed to replace the V2, is presented. The new version features a doubled plasma chamber volume and the high charge state beam intensity is expected to increase by a factor of 1.5 to 2 up to the mass ∼50. A status of its assembly is proposed.

Investigation on the electron flux to the wall in the VENUS ion source

The long-term operation of high charge state electron cyclotron resonance ion sources fed with high microwave power has caused damage to the plasma chamber wall in several laboratories. Porosity, or a small hole, can be progressively created in the chamber wall which can destroy the plasma chamber over a few year time scale. A burnout of the VENUS plasma chamber is investigated in which the hole formation in relation to the local hot electron power density is studied. First, the results of a simple model assuming that hot electrons are fully magnetized and strictly following magnetic field lines are presented. The model qualitatively reproduces the experimental traces left by the plasma on the wall. However, it is too crude to reproduce the localized electron power density for creating a hole in the chamber wall. Second, the results of a Monte Carlo simulation, following a population of scattering hot electrons, indicate a localized high power deposited to the chamber wall consistent with the hole formation process. Finally, a hypervapotron cooling scheme is proposed to mitigate the hole formation in electron cyclotron resonance plasma chamber wall.

Optimizing charge breeding techniques for ISOL facilities in Europe: Conclusions from the EMILIE project

The present paper summarizes the results obtained from the past few years in the framework of the Enhanced Multi-Ionization of short-Lived Isotopes for Eurisol (EMILIE) project. The EMILIE project aims at improving the charge breeding techniques with both Electron Cyclotron Resonance Ion 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 charge breeders is being developed, for making an optimal use of the capabilities of CW post-accelerators of the future facilities. Such a debunching technique should eventually resolve duty cycle and time structure issues which presently complicate the data-acquisition of experiments. The results of the first tests of this technique are reported here. In comparison with charge breeding with an EBIS, the ECRIS technique had lower performance in efficiency and attainable charge state for metallic ion beams and also suffered from issues related to beam contamination. In recent years, improvements have been made which significantly reduce the differences between the two techniques, making ECRIS charge breeding more attractive especially for CW machines producing intense beams. Upgraded versions of the Phoenix charge breeder, originally developed by LPSC, will be used at SPES and GANIL/SPIRAL. These two charge breeders have benefited from studies undertaken within EMILIE, which are also briefly summarized here.

Charge breeder for the SPIRAL1 upgrade: Preliminary results

In the framework of the SPIRAL1 upgrade under progress at the GANIL lab, the charge breeder based on a LPSC Phoenix ECRIS, first tested at ISOLDE has been modified to benefit of the last enhancements of this device from the 1+/n+ community. The modifications mainly concern the 1 + optics, vacuum techniques, and the RF-buffer gas injection into the charge breeder. Prior to its installation in the midst of the low energy beam line of the SPIRAL1 facility, it has been decided to qualify its performances and several operation modes at the test bench of LPSC lab. This contribution shall present preliminary results of experiments conducted at LPSC concerning the 1 + to n+ conversion efficiencies for noble gases as well as for alkali elements and the corresponding transformation times.

The new ECR charge breeder for the Selective Production of Exotic Species project at INFN--Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro

The Selective Production of Exotic Species (SPES) project is an ISOL facility under construction at Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare-Laboratori Nationali di Legnaro (INFN-LNL). 1+ radioactive ions, produced and extracted from the target-ion-source system, will be charge bred to high charge states by an ECR charge breeder (SPES-CB): the project will adopt an upgraded version of the PHOENIX charge breeder, developed since about twenty years by the Laboratoire de Physique Subatomique et de Cosmologie (LPSC). The collaboration between LNL and LPSC started in 2010 with charge breeding experiments performed on the LPSC test bench and led, in June 2014, to the signature of a Research Collaboration Agreement for the delivery of a complete charge breeder and ancillaries, satisfying the SPES requirements. Important technological aspects were tackled during the construction phase, as, for example, beam purity issues, electrodes alignment, and vacuum sealing. This phase was completed in spring 2015, after which the qualification tests were carried out at LPSC on the 1+/q+ test stand. This paper describes the characteristics of the SPES-CB, with particular emphasis on the results obtained during the qualification tests: charge breeding of Ar, Xe, Rb, and Cs satisfied the SPES requirements for different intensities of the injected 1+ beam, showing very good performances, some of which are "best ever" for this device.

The charge breeder beam line for the selective production of exotic species project at INFN-Legnaro National Laboratories

SPES (Selective Production of Exotic Species) is an INFN (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare) project with the aim at producing and post-accelerating exotic beams to perform forefront research in nuclear physics. To allow post-acceleration of the radioactive ions, an ECR-based Charge Breeder (CB) developed on the basis of the Phoenix booster was chosen. The design of the complete beam line for the SPES-CB will be described: a system for stable 1+ beams production was included; special attention was paid to the medium resolution mass spectrometer after the CB to limit possible superposition of the exotic beams with the impurities present in the ECR plasma.

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 GHz ECRIS and the LPSC-PHOENIX charge breeder. The first experiments were carried out with noble gases and they revealed, for example, that the effects of the gas mixing and 2-frequency heating on the production of high charge states appear to be additive for the conventional ECRIS. The results also indicate that at least in the case of noble gases the differences between the conventional ECRIS and the charge breeder cause only minor impact on the production efficiency of ion beams.

Future carbon beams at SPIRAL1 facility: which method is the most efficient?

Compared to in-flight facilities, Isotope Separator On-Line ones can in principle produce significantly higher radioactive ion beam intensities. On the other hand, they have to cope with delays for the release and ionization which make the production of short-lived isotopes ion beams of reactive and refractory elements particularly difficult. Many efforts are focused on extending the capabilities of ISOL facilities to those challenging beams. In this context, the development of carbon beams is triggering interest [H. Frånberg, M. Ammann, H. W. Gäggeler, and U. Köster, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 77, 03A708 (2006); M. Kronberger, A. Gottberg, T. M. Mendonca, J. P. Ramos, C. Seiffert, P. Suominen, and T. Stora, in Proceedings of the EMIS 2012 [Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. B Production of molecular sideband radioisotope beams at CERN-ISOLDE using a Helicon-type plasma ion source (to be published)]: despite its refractory nature, radioactive carbon beams can be produced from molecules (CO or CO2), which can subsequently be broken up and multi-ionized to the required charge state in charge breeders or ECR sources. This contribution will present results of experiments conducted at LPSC with the Phoenix charge breeder and at GANIL with the Nanogan ECR ion source for the ionization of carbon beams in the frame of the ENSAR and EMILIE projects. Carbon is to date the lightest condensable element charge bred with an ECR ion source. Charge breeding efficiencies will be compared with those obtained using Nanogan ECRIS and charge breeding times will be presented as well.

Roadmap for the design of a superconducting electron cyclotron resonance ion source for Spiral2

A review of today achieved A∕Q = 3 heavy ions beams is proposed. The daily operation A∕Q = 3 ion beam intensities expected at Spiral2 are at the limit or above best record 3rd generation electron cyclotron resonance ion source (ECRIS) intensities. The necessity to build a new fully superconducting to fulfill these requirements is outlined. A discussion on the volume of the future source is proposed and the minimum value of 12 liters is derived. An analysis of the x-ray absorption superconducting ECRIS is presented based on VENUS experimental data and geometry. This study underlines the necessity to include a complete x-ray study at the time of source conception. The specifications foreseen for the new ECRIS are presented, followed with the roadmap for the design.

Beam injection improvement for electron cyclotron resonance charge breeders

The injection of a 1+ beam into an electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) charge breeder is classically performed through a grounded tube placed on its axis at the injection side. This tube presents various disadvantages for the operation of an ECR charge breeder. First experiments without a grounded tube show a better use of the microwave power and a better charge breeding efficiency. The optical acceptance of the charge breeder without decelerating tube allows the injection of high intensity 1+ ion beams at high energy, allowing metals sputtering inside the ion source. The use of this method for refractory metallic ion beams production is evaluated.

Technical use of compact micro-onde devices

Due to the very small size of a COMIC (Compact MIcrowave and Coaxial) device [P. Sortais, T. Lamy, J. Médard, J. Angot, L. Latrasse, and T. Thuillier, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 81, 02B31 (2010)] it is possible to install such plasma or ion source inside very different technical environments. New applications of such a device are presented, mainly for industrial applications. We have now designed ion sources for highly focused ion beam devices, ion beam machining ion guns, or thin film deposition machines. We will mainly present new capabilities opened by the use of a multi-beam system for thin film deposition based on sputtering by medium energy ion beams. With the new concept of multi-beam sputtering (MBS), it is possible to open new possibilities concerning the ion beam sputtering (IBS) technology, especially for large size deposition of high uniformity thin films. By the use of multi-spots of evaporation, each one corresponding to an independent tuning of an individual COMIC ion source, it will be very easy to co-evaporate different components.

Prospects for advanced electron cyclotron resonance and electron beam ion source charge breeding methods for EURISOL

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 post-acceleration, 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 guidelines of this R&D.

Ultracompact/ultralow power electron cyclotron resonance ion source for multipurpose applications

In order to drastically reduce the power consumption of a microwave ion source, we have studied some specific discharge cavity geometries in order to reduce the operating point below 1 W of microwave power (at 2.45 GHz). We show that it is possible to drive an electron cyclotron resonance ion source with a transmitter technology similar to those used for cellular phones. By the reduction in the size and of the required microwave power, we have developed a new type of ultralow cost ion sources. This microwave discharge system (called COMIC, for COmpact MIcrowave and Coaxial) can be used as a source of light, plasma or ions. We will show geometries of conductive cavities where it is possible, in a 20 mm diameter chamber, to reduce the ignition of the plasma below 100 mW and define typical operating points around 5 W. Inside a simple vacuum chamber it is easy to place the source and its extraction system anywhere and fully under vacuum. In that case, current densities from 0.1 to 10 mA/cm(2) (Ar, extraction 4 mm, 1 mAe, 20 kV) have been observed. Preliminary measurements and calculations show the possibility, with a two electrodes system, to extract beams within a low emittance. The first application for these ion sources is the ion injection for charge breeding, surface analyzing system and surface treatment. For this purpose, a very small extraction hole is used (typically 3/10 mm for a 3 microA extracted current with 2 W of HF power). Mass spectrum and emittance measurements will be presented. In these conditions, values down to 1 pi mm mrad at 15 kV (1sigma) are observed, thus very close to the ones currently observed for a surface ionization source. A major interest of this approach is the possibility to connect together several COMIC devices. We will introduce some new on-going developments such as sources for high voltage implantation platforms, fully quartz radioactive ion source at ISOLDE or large plasma generators for plasma immersion, broad or ribbon beams generation.

First plasma of the A-PHOENIX electron cyclotron resonance ion source

A-PHOENIX is a new compact hybrid electron cyclotron resonance ion source using a large permanent magnet hexapole (1.92 T at the magnet surface) and high temperature superconducting Solenoids (3 T) to make min- B structure suitable for 28 GHz cw operation. The final assembly of the source was achieved at the end of June 2007. The first plasma of A-PHOENIX at 18 GHz was done on the 16th of August, 2007. The technological specificities of A-PHOENIX are presented. The large hexapole built is presented and experimental magnetic measurements show that it is nominal with respect to simulation. A fake plasma chamber prototype including thin iron inserts showed that the predicted radial magnetic confinement can be fulfilled up to 2.15 T at the plasma chamber wall. Scheduled planning of experiments until the end of 2008 is presented.

European research activities on charge state breeding related to radioactive ion beam facilities

European effort on charge breeders is mainly dedicated to present and future Radioactive Ion Beam facilities. The main projects are High Intensity and Energy-ISOLDE at CERN, SPIRAL2 at GANIL, and EURISOL. Most of the experimental developments are funded by the European programs EURONS (European Nuclear Structure) and EURISOL (European Isotope Separation On-Line Radioactive Ion Beam Facility). Two ion source types (electron beam ion source and electron cyclotron resonance ion source) have been adapted to accept the injection and the capture of an ion beam, in order to increase its charge with the highest efficiency within the shortest time. Both charge breeders have advantages and disadvantages with regard to their use in a Radioactive Ion Beam facility. The most important parameters studied are acceptance (in emittance and intensity) of the charge breeder, efficiency, and charge breeding time of a specific n+ charge state, emittance of the extracted n+ beam. The charge breeder parameters are studied with different 1+ ion sources dedicated to 1+ radioactive ion beam production, and the tuning procedure of the charge breeder as a beam line section of a specific accelerator is established and measured too.