Targets and ion sources at CERN-ISOLDE — Facilities and developments

At the CERN-ISOLDE radioactive ion beam facility, thick targets are irradiated using a beam of 1.4-GeV protons. One of ISOLDE’s key features is the large choice of ion source types and target materials available, enabling us to select the ideal combination for optimal intensity and purity of the isotopes requested by ISOLDE users. The ever-increasing demands in terms of isotope production yield, beam purity, and overall reliability of the employed systems are driving the continuous development efforts. Over the past few years, CERN has invested heavily in facilities and infrastructure that facilitate ongoing developments required for ISOLDE. A dedicated offline laboratory (Offline 2) has been recently equipped with high repetition rate nanosecond tunable lasers required for scheme development and developments of specialized laser ion source types such as VADLIS, LIST and PI-LIST. Moreover, it hosts a twin setup of the ISOLDE RFQ cooler and buncher (ISCOOL), which is envisaged to be used for studies of molecular beam creation and breakup, as well as the development of improved RFQ services and operational modes. For material development, particularly for nanostructured materials, the new nano laboratory has just been commissioned and will enable the production and development of nano actinide targets for ISOLDE. In this contribution we describe the infrastructure required for target and ion source developments, highlight recent efforts and experimental results on both target material development and ion source development, and provide an outlook on what to expect in the near future.