Experiments on the Pulsed Afterglow Operation of an ECR Ion Source

Various experiments have been performed on the 14.5 GHz ECR4 in order to improve the beam yield. The source operates in pulsed "afterglow" mode, and provides currents >120 emA of Pb27+ to the Heavy Ion Facility on an operational basis. In the search for higher beam intensities, the effects of a pulsed biased disk on axis at the injection side were investigated with different pulse timing and voltage settings. Different plasma electrode geometries were also tested, including running the source without a plasma electrode. The use of CF4 as mixing gas was investigated, and high secondary electron emission materials, such as LaB6 and Al2O3, were inserted inside the plasma chamber in an attempt to increase the cold electron density. No proof for higher intensities was seen for any of the tested modifications. On the contrary, several of the modifications resulted in lower source performance, and less stability. Although the source has previously proved to have very stable modes of operation, during the last physics run, after the above tests, the stability decreased and the source settings were very different from the normal operation values.