Characterization and recent modifications of a compact 10 GHz Electron Cyclotron Resonance (ECR) ion source for atomic physics experiments

Abstract

A summary of recent modifications and developments of a compact ECR ion source where the magnetic field is produced by permanent magnets will be given in this paper. To improve the confinement of the plasma electrons the axial magnetic mirror ratio has been enhanced to 2.5. This results in a more efficient plasma heating at low microwave power levels and therefore ion currents up to 320 eμA could be extracted with a microwave power of less than 10 Watts. The maximum ion currents for different charge states and various gases obtained so far will be shown. Further interest arises from the fact that photons produced in an ECR plasma due to ionization and recombination processes can be used for spectroscopic applications in the VUV wavelength region between 10 and 80 nm.