Successful ECR ion source tests conducted at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) produced record levels of current for a high charge state of uranium.

VENUS, the superconducting Electron Cyclotron Resonance (ECR) ion source at LBNL, was used for the tests in November. The key result was the production of 440 eμA of U33+, which more than doubled the previous world record of 205 eμA set by VENUS in 2006. The VENUS source provides intense high charge state ions for the LBNL 88-inch Cyclotron programs and was used as an R&D ECR ion source by the FRIB team.

The new result could provide sufficient beam for the FRIB heavy ion driver to meet its design goal of 400 kW of uranium beam power without needing to use a complex two-charge state injection system. The results also demonstrated for the first time that the ECR plasma produced at 28 GHz can produce the needed uranium plasma density.