New developments on preparation of cooled and bunched Radioactive Ion beams at ISOL facilities: the ISCOOL project and the rotating wall cooling

The future of physics research with radioactive isotopes is linked to the development of more accurate and specific experiments which will work with more exotic and energetic nuclei. Requirements from experiments are getting more and more stringent and represent a big challenge for the preparation of ion beams, since each one demands different optical specifications to optimize its setup and improve its results. This thesis focuses on the new developments achieved in preparation of RIB's (Radioactive Ion Beams) at ISOL facilities. Optical beam improvements based on cooling and bunching are the main points of the work. The design of a new general purpose second generation RFQCB (Radio Frequency ion Quadrupole Cooler and Buncher) for ISOLDE, the oldest ISOL facility, will be completely described. Nowadays, RFQCB's are one of the most important devices in the beam preparation stage thanks to the capacity to cool and bunch low-intensity ion beams quickly, easily and with great efficiency. The thesis will detail the improvements afforded by the design of the new RFQCB and provide a helpful guide for all who need to design new similar devices in the future. This thesis also focuses on the problem of cooling and bunching high-intensity ion beams. This is very important for future ISOL facilities like EURISOL or SPIRAL-2. The last part of this thesis is devoted to comparing different cooling methods for Penning traps. The results obtained with rotating wall cooling at REXTRAP, the REX-ISOLDE Penning trap, will be presented.