Characterization of ISOLDE ion source and ion source chemistry

This report presents results of measurements made with the ISOLDE OFF-LINE mass separator [1]. The first part shows measurements of the ionization characteristics of noble gases in a VADIS ion source. The goal of the measurements was to determine the dependency of the extractable current of first and second noble gases ions with the electron energy. In the second part, investigation on in-target chemistry are presented. Here, the effect of injected sulfur hexafluoride ($SF_6$) on the release of oxygen from aluminium oxide ($Al_2 O_3$) was studied.