High intensity metallic ion beam from an ecr ion source using the Mivoc method

The MIVOC method has been successfully used at GANIL to produce a high intensity nickel beam with the ECR4 ion source: 20 μA 58Ni11+ at 24 kV extraction voltage. This beam has been maintained for 8 days and accelerated up to 74.5 MeV/u by our cyclotrons with a mean intensity of 0.13 pμA on target. This high intensity, required for experiment, led to the discovery of the doubly magic 48Ni isotope. Experimental setup, handling and off-line preparation using a residual gas analyzer are described in this report. The ion source behavior, performances and limitations are presented in the case of nickel and iron. The ionization efficiencies have been measured and compared to the oven method usually used at GANIL. (author)