Modification of an Ion Source for the Production of Microampere 4He- Beams

Several modifications of the ion source of a model EN Tandem Van de Graaff Accelerator have increased the production of 4He- beams by a factor of 100 over that first obtained with the source (~10 nA). While using H2 gas for charge exchange, the replacement of the source drift tube by a screen and the installation of a system for precise adjustment of the button alignment with respect to the extractor electrode increased the output to 150 nA at the ion source. Recently potassium vapor has been used for charge exchange. Since the introduction of this technique, 4He- beam currents of 1. 2 μA have been regularly produced. The 4He+ ions from a duoplasmatron ion source are accelerated to 20 keV and passed through the standard exchange canal which is modified by the addition of a potassium vapor chamber. Analyzed 4He++ beams of 0.3 to 0.8 μA have been obtained with terminal voltage between 1.8 and 6 MV. The modified source has been used with K-vapor exchange for continuous periods of up to 120 hours without deterioration of source performance. Normal operation with H2 gas exchange for other beams is possible without the interruption of the source operation.