Molecular desorption of stainless steel vacuum chambers irradiated with 4.2 MeV/u lead ions

In preparation for the heavy ion program of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, accumulation and cooling tests with lead ion beams have been performed in the Low Energy Antiproton Ring (LEAR). These tests have revealed that due to the unexpected large outgassing of the vacuum system, the dynamic pressure of the ring could not be maintained low enough to reach the required beam intensities. To determine the actions necessary to lower the dynamic pressure rise, an experimental program has been initiated for measuring the molecular desorption yields of stainless steel vacuum chambers by the impact of 4.2 MeV/u lead ions with the charge states +27 and +53. The test chambers were exposed either at grazing or at perpendicular incidence. Different surface treatments (glow-discharges, non-evaporable getter coating) are reported in terms of the molecular desorption yields for H2, CH4, CO, Ar and CO2. Unexpected large values of molecular yields per incident ion up to 2 104 molecules/ion have been observed. The reduction of the ion-induced desorption yield due to continuous bombardment with lead ions (beam cleaning) has been investigated for five different stainless steel vacuum chambers. The implications of these results for the vacuum system of the future Low Energy Ion Ring (LEIR) and possible remedies to reduce the vacuum degradation are discussed.