Electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) ion sources are scientific instruments particularly useful for physics: they are extensively used in atomic, nuclear, and high energy physics, for the production of multicharged beams. Moreover, these sources are also of fundamental interest for plasma physics, because of the very particular properties of the ECR plasma. This article describes the state of the art on the physics of the ECR plasma related to multiply charged ion sources. In Sec. I, we describe the general aspects of ECR ion sources. Physics related to the electrons is presented in Sec. II: we discuss there the problems of heating and confinement. In Sec. III, the problem of ion production and confinement is presented. A numerical code is presented, and some particular and important effects, specific to ECR ion sources, are shown in Sec. IV. Eventually, in Sec. V, technological aspects of ECR are presented and different types of sources are shown.
Grenoble Test Source (GTS) is a room temperature electron cyclotron resonance ion source whose purpose is to deepen the knowledge of this type of device. GTS was designed according to magnetic scaling laws determined with the SERSE source [Hitz et al., Rev. Sci. Instrum. 73, 509 (2002); Gammino et al., ibid. 72, 4090 (2001)] while keeping enough flexibility in terms of magnetic confinement and rf heating to determine best conditions for the production of intense beams of any charge state. First results were presented 1 year ago [Hitz et al., 8th European Particle Accelerator Conference, 2002; 15th International Workshop on ECR Ion Sources, 2002]. Since then, some improvements have been performed mostly in the magnetic confinement, beam extraction and analysis. Updated ion beam intensities are presented: e.g., 0.5 mA of Ar11+ at 18 GHz, 20 μA of Ar16+ and 1.8 μA of Ar17+ when GTS is operated at 14.5 GHz. On the other hand, charge coupled device imagers have been installed to diagnose and monitor the ion beam and some beam images are shown.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.