Reconditioning of the Leuven Isotope Separator as a test bench for radioactive ion beam development

Producing novel medical radionuclides in the quantities necessary for pre-clinical and clinical use requires an ion source able to handle high ion throughputs, operated efficiently, to deliver high specific activity samples. This is only possible with the understanding of how different parameters affect the ion source performance. Offline mass separators are needed to run systematic studies that would help us to derive the laws governing those ion sources. At KU Leuven, we are refurbishing the Leuven Isotope Separator, a mass separator previously used for implantations of radioisotopes in solid-state samples and Mössbauer spectroscopy. In the past couple of years, the machine has undergone significant updates and has been adapted to integrate the target ion source units used at CERN-ISOLDE. This paper discusses the modifications to the Leuven Isotope Separator, as well as its potential as a test bench for the study of radioactive ion beams in the future.