VIVITRON beam transport

The VIVITRON is a new 35 MV particle accelerator which presents a great number of innovations. One of the major problem is the beam transport in this electrostatic machine of 50 m length for ions with masses between 1 and 200. Our work consisted in the study of various experimental and theoretical aspects of the beam transport in Tandem accelerators from the ion source to the analysing magnet. Calculations of the beam optics were performed with a Strasbourg version of the computer code Transport. They allowed us to optimize the beam transport parameters of the VIVITRON elements. Special attention has been focused on the design of the charge state selector to be installed in the terminal of the new machine. Beam transmission measurements were carried out in the Strasbourg MP 10 Tandem accelerator for ions beams of masses between 1 and 127 and for terminal voltages from 9 to 15 MV. Partial and total transmissions were obtained and explanations of the beam losses were proposed in terms of the vacuum pressure and/or the optics of the beam accelerator system. The results have been extrapolated to the VIVITRON for which the best working conditions are now clearly defined