Accelerators dedicated to the production of stable or radioactive ions rely on target-source assemblies, transport of stable or radioactive beams from high energy to low energy, and ion traps for ion preparation and manipulation. Research at all levels of this complex production chain is necessary to advance existing facilities and push back current limits in preparation for future machines.
Increasingly demanding requirements imposed by physics experiments (low energy beams, low emittance, few contaminants) are supported by R&D on ion sources, to boost beam intensity, efficiency, charge state and purity, as well as on the accelerator (increasing power, improving optical properties, time structure, or efficiency), and on ion traps to ensure precise ion manipulation and mass separation.
Cross-section of the target-source assembly used for the production of radioactive beams at the ALTO platform at IJCLab. Designed by the IJCLab design group (credits: O. Pochon).