Ion source preparing for FRIB tests

17 May 2012

The ion source and low energy beam transport system used at Los Alamos National Laboratory in the Low Energy Demonstration Accelerator (LEDA) is being installed and re-commissioned in the ReA3 experimental area. It will be used for tests of the liquid lithium charge stripper being developed under a work-for-others agreement between FRIB and the Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) Physics Division. The LEDA accelerator (source plus RFQ) was the second most powerful accelerator in the world in the late 1990s, second only to Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) cyclotrons.

After demonstrating that a beam between 0.5 and 1 kW in a 3 mm diameter beam spot (similar to the power density deposited by the FRIB beam on the charge stripper) can be obtained, the system will be shipped to ANL and connected to the liquid lithium stripper setup for tests to verify that the liquid lithium film is not perturbed by beams that will deposit the same power density as FRIB beams.

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