Optimization of a Short Faraday Cup for Low-Energy Ions using Numerical Simulations

ISOLDE, the heavy-ion facility at CERN is undergoing a major upgrade with the installation of a superconducting LINAC that will allow post-acceleration of ion beams up to 10 MeV/u. In this framework, customized beam diagnostics are being developed in order to fulfill the design requirements as well as to fit in the compact diagnostic boxes foreseen. The main detector of this system is a compact Faraday cup that will measure beam intensities in the range of 1 pA to 1 nA. In this contribution, simulation results of electrostatic fields and particle tracking are detailed for different Faraday cup prototypes taking into account the energy spectrum and angle of emission of the ion-induced secondary electrons.