Microwave Discharge Ion Sources

TL;DR

This chapter reviews microwave discharge ion sources, focusing on their design, operation, and ability to produce high-brightness, stable ion beams suitable for high-power accelerators.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of the principles, designs, and performance characteristics of microwave discharge ion sources, emphasizing beam quality and emittance.

Findings

Microwave sources produce high-current proton and ion beams.

Design variations impact beam emittance and stability.

Off-resonance 2.45 GHz sources are effective for high-power applications.

Abstract

This chapter describes the basic principles, design features and characteristics of microwave discharge ion sources. A suitable source for the production of intense beams for high-power accelerators must satisfy the requirements of high brightness, stability and reliability. The 2.45 GHz off-resonance microwave discharge sources are ideal devices to generate the required beams, as they produce multimilliampere beams of protons, deuterons and singly charged ions. A description of different technical designs will be given, analysing their performance, with particular attention being paid to the quality of the beam, especially in terms of its emittance.