Intense heavy ion beam production from IMP LECR3 and construction progress of a superconducting ECR ion source SECRAL

Intense heavy ion beams have been produced from IMP 14.5 GHz LECR3 by optimization of the ion source conditions and transmission efficiency. Highly charged stable beams, such as 325 emuA of Ar11+, 95 emuA of Xe26+, 7 emuA of Xe30+, 140 emuA of Fe13+, and 75 emuA of Ni12+, were obtained by 14.5 GHz rf power 800-1000 W. Furthermore, an advanced superconducting ECR ion source named SECRAL is being constructed. SECRAL is designed to operate at rf frequency 18-28 GHz with axial mirror magnetic fields 4.0 T at injection, 2.2 T at extraction, and sextupole field 2.0 T at the plasma chamber wall. The unique feature of this superconducting ECR source is that the sextupole is located outside of the three axial solenoid coils to reduce the interaction force and make the source more compact. Fabrications of the superconducting coils, cryostat, beam transmission, line, and other components are almost completed. Tests of the superconducting magnet with sextupole and solenoid coils are under way. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.