A microwave driven off-line ion source for ISAC at TRIUMF

An off-line microwave ion source (TE111 mode resonator at 2.45 GHz) is being developed to produce stable ion beams for ISAC commissioning as well as to produce intermediate and long half-life radioactive ion beams for initial experiments. Two different sources have been constructed and tested. In the standard source configuration the microwave power is injected and the beam is extracted on axis. In the second source microwave power is injected radially. In this case, the beam is extracted radially. Each of the sources is capable of handling gaseous, metallic and volatile compounds. A three electrode extraction system and a mass spectrometer with a resolution of 1600 are used to analyze the beams. The performance of the two sources is compared. In a number of parameters, efficiency, power requirements, tuning simplicity and lifetime, the radial source out performs the axial source. The test results with both sources are present. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.