Design and construction of an electrostatic quadrupole doublet lens for nuclear microprobe application

Abstract An electrostatic quadrupole doublet lens system has been designed and constructed to provide strong, mass-independent focusing of 1–3 MeV ions to a 1 µm 2 spot size. The electrostatic doublet consists of four sets of gold electrodes deposited on quartz rods that are positioned in a precision machined rigid frame. The 38 mm electrodes are fixed in a quadrupole doublet arrangement having a bore diameter of 6.35 mm. The coating process allows uniform, 360° coverage with minimal edge defects. Determined via optical interferometry, typical surface roughness is 6 nm peak to valley. Radial and coaxial alignment of the electrodes within the frame is accomplished by using a combination of rigid and adjustable mechanical supports. Axial alignment along the ion beam is accomplished via external manipulators. COMSOL Multiphysics® v5.2 and Propagate Rays and Aberrations by Matrices (PRAM) were used to simulate ion trajectories through the system.