Charge state distributions of 1 to 7 MeV C and Be ions stripped in thin foils

The development of ultrasensitive mass spectrometers based on tandem accelerators has lead to a renewed interest in the stripping process of MeV ions and the charge state distributions of the ions emerging from the stripping foil (or the gas stripper). The knowledge of these distributions is of special importance for the optimization of existing facilities for mass spectrometry and for the design of new dedicated machines. The goal was to determine the charge state distributions of Be and C ions passing through thin C-foils at energies between 1.5 and 7 MeV (i.e. for typical ion energies found at the terminal of small tandem accelerators). Both C and Be are of interest in todays efforts of using accelerators as mass spectrometers for rare radioisotopes (14C and 10Be in this case). The determination of the charge state distributions should also give some insight in fractionation effects i.e. effects leading to unequal transmission efficiencies through the spectrometer for different isotopes