First high energy hydrogen cluster beams. A new facility at IPN Lyon, France

The hydrogen cluster accelerator existing at Institut de Physique Nucleaire de Lyon (IPN Lyon) has been upgraded by adding a Variable Energy Post-accelerator of RFQ type (VE-RFQ). This operation has been performed in the frame of a collaboration between KfK Karlsruhe, IAP Frankfurt and IPN Lyon. The facility has been designed to deliver beams of mass selected Hn+ clusters, n chosen between 3 and 49, in the energy range 65-100 keV/u. For the first time, hydrogen clusters have been accelerated at energies as high as 2 MeV. This facility opens new fields for experiments which will greatly benefit from a velocity range never available until now for such exotic projectiles. (orig.)