Carbon stripper foils for heavy-ion accelerators

Carbon stripper foils have for many years been successfully used with accelerators because they yield higher average charge states than gas strippers. However, with the development of heavy ion accelerators and the resulting use of heavier ions, the carbon stripper foil lifetimes are greatly reduced. Even when using the new foils changer systems, which typically contain two hundred foils or more, it becomes necessary to have frequent accelerator shutdowns for foil reloading. The rate of experiment interruption makes it clear a new approach is necessary to increase foil lifetimes. Several techniques have been tried with varying degrees of success to strengthen these foils so that they will last longer; the most successful one reported a lifetime increase of the order of a factor of 30 over foils produced in the conventional manner. Methods of producing various types of foils will be presented, a discussion will be given on theories for foil breakage, and some new ideas will be introduced for further increasing foil lifetimes