REXEBIS the Electron Beam Ion Source for the REX-ISOLDE project

The REXEBIS is an Electron Beam Ion Source (EBIS) developed especially to trap and further ionise the sometimes rare and short-lived isotopes that are produced in the ISOLDE separator for the Radioactive beam EXperiment at ISOLDE (REX-ISOLDE). By promoting the single-charged ions to a high charge-state the ions are more efficiently accelerated in the following linear accelerator. The EBIS uses an electron gun capable of producing a 0.5 A electron beam. The electron gun is immersed in a magnetic field of 0.2 T, and the electron beam is compressed to a current density of >200 A/cm2 inside a 2 T superconducting solenoid. The EBIS is situated on a high voltage (HV) platform with an initial electric potential of 60 kV allowing cooled and bunched 60 keV ions extracted from a Penning trap to be captured. After a period of confinement in the electron beam (<20 ms), the single-charged ions have been ionised to a charge-to-mass ratio of approximately ¼. During this confinement period, the platform potential is decreased to about 20 kV, and an axial potential barrier is lowered to allow the now highly charged ions to be extracted from the EBIS at an energy matching the requirement of the Radio Frequency Quadrupole (RFQ). Several different topics are presented in this report, all connected with the design and construction of an EBIS. Old 'truths' have also been scrutinised, for instance alignment tolerances. A large part is devoted to the description of a novel EBIS simulation implementation. A complete injection, breeding and extraction cycle has been simulated to certify high injection and extraction efficiencies. The entire EBIS was modelled in an ion-tracing program called SIMION, and the accepted and emitted phase spaces were determined. Beam optics parameters such as lens positions, voltages, accepted beam-tilt and displacement tolerances at the focal points were also settled using SIMION. An analytically derived acceptance formula was verified with simulations, and general conclusions on acceptance, emittance and energy spread of an EBIS are presented in this report. Any possible correlation between the two transverse phase spaces was shown to be insignificant. Furthermore, continuous injection, and maximal obtainable efficiency for such an injection mode were studied theoretically. The electron reflection and back-scattering in the collector was simulated using a combination of EGUN and SIMION. The result showed that a much lower degree of electron back-scattering may be obtained with this design as compared to previously published estimations. Furthermore, the Penning trapping of electrons at the trap barrier (or the post anode) was addressed, and techniques to avoid it were evaluated. Vacuum considerations for residual gas in the warm-bore magnet chamber, and the back-flow of Ar cooling gas from the Penning trap, have also been addressed since there is a risk of outnumbering the small number of radioactive ions. Simulated extraction spectra for different pressure scenarios are presented. All different REXEBIS elements (magnet, electron gun, inner structure, collector etc) are described from a design and performance perspective, and preliminary investigations of the platform high voltage switching and the beam diagnostics are included as well. A very elegant and simple method to align the solenoid within the iron yoke was developed and used. The high experimental emittance value obtained for electron beam ion source at MSL in Stockholm (4 times larger than the absolute upper theoretical value) was reproduced in simulations and could be justified by aberrations in the small einzel lens following the collector. The result of this simulation also verified the validity of the developed EBIS code

Argon-photoion–Auger-electron Coincidence Measurements Following K-shell Excitation by Synchrotron Radiation

Argon photoion spectra have been obtained for the first time in coincidence with K-LL and K-LM Auger electrons, as a function of photon energy. The simplified charge distributions which result exhibit a much more pronounced photon-energy dependence than do the more complicated noncoincident spectra. In the near-K-threshold region, Rydberg shakeoff of np levels, populated by resonant excitation of K electrons, occurs with significant probability, as do double-Auger processes and recapture of the K photoelectron through postcollision interaction

Combined CI+MBPT calculations of energy levels and transition amplitudes in Be, Mg, Ca, and Sr

Configuration interaction (CI) calculations in atoms with two valence electrons, carried out in the V(N-2) Hartree-Fock potential of the core, are corrected for core-valence interactions using many-body perturbation theory (MBPT). Two variants of the mixed CI+MBPT theory are described and applied to obtain energy levels and transition amplitudes for Be, Mg, Ca, and Sr

Status of the REX-ISOLDE project

The radioactive beam experiment REX-ISOLDE, a pilot experiment testing a new concept of post acceleration of radioactive ions at ISOLDE/CERN is in progress. Singly charged radioactive ions delivered by the online mass separator ISOLDE are accumulated in a Penning trap (REX trap), charge bred in an electron beam ion source (EBIS), separated from the residual gas in a mass separator and then accelerated in a linac with output energies between 0.8 and 2.2 MeV /u. The REX trap is in operation, a first test beam was already injected. The design phase of the EBIS is finished and the construction has been started. The superconducting magnet is delivered. The linac consists of a radiofrequency quadrupole (RFQ) accelerator, an interdigital IH-structure and 3 seven gap resonators to vary the final energy. (12 refs)

"Safe" Coulomb Excitation of 30Mg

We report on the first radioactive beam experiment performed at the recently commissioned REX-ISOLDE facility at CERN in conjunction with the highly efficient gamma spectrometer MINIBALL. Using 30Mg ions accelerated to an energy of 2.25 MeV/u together with a thin nat-Ni target, Coulomb excitation of the first excited 2+ states of the projectile and target nuclei well below the Coulomb barrier was observed. From the measured relative de-excitation gamma ray yields the B(E2; 0+ -> 2+) value of 30Mg was determined to be 241(31) e2fm4. Our result is lower than values obtained at projectile fragmentation facilities using the intermediate-energy Coulomb excitation method, and confirms the theoretical conjecture that the neutron-rich magnesium isotope 30Mg lies still outside the ``island of inversion''

REX-ISOLDE: post-accelerated radioactive BEAMS at CERN-ISOLDE

The ISOLDE RIB-facility at CERN has today been producing a vast range of radioactive beams since more than 30 years. The low-energy beams of ISOLDE will be complemented by a post-accelerator, REX-ISOLDE, currently being assembled. In order to convert the pseudo-DC, singly-charged beam from the ISOLDE mass separators into a cooled and bunched beam at higher charge states a novel scheme of trapping, cooling and charge-state breeding has been devised, using a linear Penning trap and an Electron Beam Ion Source (EBIS). This allows for subsequent acceleration by a short, cost-effective LINAC consisting of an RFQ, an IH-structure and three seven-gap resonators, reaching 0.8 - 2.2 MeV/u. The installation of REX-ISOLDE is well underway and the first post-accelerated radioactive beams are expected to be obtained during late 2000