Optimization and numerical simulation for the accelerator of the commercial H- cyclotron ion source

TL;DR

This paper presents the design and simulation of an advanced H- ion source for a commercial cyclotron, focusing on optimizing beam transmission and divergence through structural adjustments.

Contribution

It introduces a new ion source design with improved transparency and detailed simulation-based parameter optimization for enhanced beam performance.

Findings

Optimized plasma electrode size increases beam transmission.

Shortening the first gap reduces beam divergence.

Adjusting G2 voltage improves beam quality.

Abstract

A new ion source will be prepared for the CYCLONE30 commercial cyclotron with a much advanced performance compared with the previous one. The newly designed ion source has a very large transparency without deteriorating the beam optics, which is designed to deliver an H- beam at 30 keV. The plasma generator of the ion source is of an axially cusped bucket type, and the whole inner wall, except the cathode filaments and plasma electrode side, functions as an anode. The accelerator assembly consists of three circular aperture electrodes made of copper. The simulation study was focused on finding parameter sets that raise the percent of beam transmitted as large as possible and reduces the beam divergence as low as possible. From the simulation results, it was concluded that it is possible to achieve this goal by sliming the plasma electrode (G1), shortening the first gap (G1-G2), and adjusting the G2 voltage.