Drift distance survey in direct plasma injection scheme for high current beam production.
In a laser ion source, plasma drift distance is one of the most important design parameters. Ion current density and beam pulse width are defined by plasma drift distance between a laser target and beam extraction position. In direct plasma injection scheme, which uses a laser ion source and a radio frequency quadrupole linac, we can apply relatively higher electric field at beam extraction due to the unique shape of a positively biased electrode. However, when we aim at very high current acceleration such as several tens of milliamperes, we observed mismatched beam extraction conditions. We tested three different ion current at ion extraction region by changing plasma drift distance to study better extraction condition. In this experiment, C(6+) beam was accelerated. We confirmed that matching condition can be improved by controlling plasma drift distance.
Acceleration of high current fully stripped carbon ion beam by direct injection scheme
Acceleration of a 17mA, 100keV∕u C6+ ion beam has been successfully achieved with an radio frequency quadrupole (RFQ) linac by means of “direct injection scheme.” The C6+ beam produced by a laser ion source with a Nd:YAG laser was injected to the high current RFQ linac. It has been experimentally proved that the fully stripped carbon ion beam with a current more than 10mA was accelerated by the RFQ linac.
Scheme for direct plasma injection into an RFQ linac
A new efficient injection method from a laser ion source to a Radio Frequency Quadropole (RFQ) was proposed and is being tested in RIKEN, Japan. A laser plasma is induced just before the entrance of the RFQ and is injected directly into the RFQ channel. Using an existing RFQ, first verification tests have been completed successfully. Finally, the preliminary specifications for the first RFQ dedicated to the new injection scheme are presented.