Results with the superconducting electron cyclotron resonance ion source VENUS (invited)

During the last year, the VENUS electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) ion source was commissioned at 18 GHz and preparations for 28 GHz operation, which is set to begin early in 2004, are now underway. The goal of the VENUS ECR ion source project as the RIA research and development injector is the production of 240 eμA of U30+, a high current medium charge state beam. On the other hand, as an injector ion source for the 88-Inch Cyclotron the design objective is the production of 5 eμA of U48+, a low current, very high charge state beam. During the commissioning phase with 18 GHz, tests with various gases and recently metals have been performed with up to 2000 W rf power and the performance is very promising. For example, 1100 eμA of O6+, 180 eμA of Ar12+, 150 eμA of Xe20+, and 100 eμA of Bi24+ were produced in the early commissioning phase, ranking VENUS among the currently highest performance 18 GHz ECR ion sources. The emittance of the beams produced at 18 GHz was measured with a two axis emittance scanner. In FY04 a 10 kW, 28 GHz gyrotron system will be added, which will enable VENUS to reach full performance. The performance of the VENUS ion source, low energy beam transport and its closed loop cryogenic system are described in the article. Recently, a high temperature axial oven has been installed in the source and the first results on metal beams such as bismuth are given. The design of the 28 GHz, 10 kW gyrotron system will also be described