Fast ion extraction from intense electron beams

Some applications of heavy ions (e.g. RHIC, LHC, tumor therapy) take advantage of a short and intense ions pulse, for which an electron beam ion source is a promising device. For single turn injection of ion beams into a synchrotron, the pulse length needs to be in the order of μs. Using common extraction methods for ions out of the potential well of the electron beam in an EBIS device will usually result in a spread out pulse with a tail, reducing the pulse quality. We have recently devised a method where the extraction potential applied to the trap electrodes is not held at constant voltage once established, but will be adjusted independently for each drift tube, resulting in a potential wall following the extracted ion pulse and preventing the falling behind of some of the ions. As a result a compressed short ion pulse will be provided for single turn injection