Holifield Radioactive Ion Beam Facility Hribf PDF Download

The Holifield Radioactive Ion Beam Facility (HRIBF) now under construction at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory will use the 25-MV tandem accelerator for the acceleration of radioactive ion beams to energies appropriate for research in nuclear physics; negative ion beams are, therefore, required for injection into the tandem accelerator. Because charge exchange is an efficient means for converting initially positive ion beams to negative ion beams, both positive and negative ion sources are viable options for use at the facility; the choice of the type of ion source will depend on the overall efficiency for generating the radioactive species of interest. A high-temperature version of the CERN-ISOLDE positive ion source has been selected and a modified version of the source designed and fabricated for initial use at the HRIBF because of its low emittance, relatively high ionization efficiencies and species versatility, and because it has been engineered for remote installation, removal and servicing as required for safe handling in a high-radiation-level ISOL facility. Prototype plasma-sputter negative ion sources and negative surface-ionization sources are also under design consideration for generating negative radioactive ion beams from high-electron-affinity elements. The design features of these sources and expected efficiencies and beam qualities (emittances) will be described in this report.