CHARACTERISTICS OF LOW POWER RF ION SOURCE

The main characteristics of a low-power inductive RF ion source designed for use in a compact nuclear microprobe at the IAP NASU are presented. The source operates at a frequency of 45 MHz with RF power below 10 W. The extracted beam current reaches up to 3.5 µA through a 0.6 mm diameter aperture. The beam is composed of 1H+, 2H+, and 3H+ ions, and the proton (1H+) fraction is about 10%. The measured energy spread of the ion beam is in the range of 7.5…9 eV. The beam emittance is 9.8 π·mm·mrad, and the normalized emittance is 0.037 π·mm·mrad.