A HIGH-INTENSITY THIN-TARGET HE-JET PRODUCTION SOURCE

A thin-target He-jet system suited to the production and rapid transport of non-volatile radioactive species has been successfully operated with proton beam intensities of up to 700 {mu}A. The system consists of a water-cooled, thin-target chamber, capillary gas transport system, moving tape/Ge detection system, and an aerosol generator/gas recirculator. The yields for a wide variety of uranium fission and deep spallation products have been measured and robust operation of the system demonstrated for several weeks. He-jet transport and collection efficiencies ranged between 15 and 25% with collection rates of 10{sup 7} to 10{sup 8} atoms/sec/isotope. The high-intensity, thin-target He-jet approach represents a robust production source for nonvolatile radioactive heavy ion beams.