Operation of a pulsed gas stripper during regular user beam time at GSI

The charge state spectrum of heavy ions like uranium stripped at 1.4 MeV/u using nitrogen can be narrowed significantly by applying pulsed injection of hydrogen into a dedicated interaction chamber. Pulsing reduces the load of the pumping system to an acceptable amount. Such a set-up is under construction at GSI/Germany. Time-resolved investigations of the build-up of the stripping target have been carried out. Recently, a prototype set-up has been operated during six months of user beam time, mainly with nitrogen but also with hydrogen. A number of ion species has been stripped in the course of the beam time, and a considerable amount of data on stripping efficiencies have been measured using both gases. The contribution summarizes the challenges related to establish such a set-up and the results being obtained so far.