HIGH-ENERGY CARBON CLUSTER BEAMS

Carbon cluster beams with mega-electronvolt energies have been accelerated in the Orsay MP tandem accelerator. In a conventional cesium sputter ion source, negative beams of C-8-, C-9- and C-12- cluster ions were produced and injected into the accelerator with a terminal voltage of 5.5 and 4 MV, respectively. Different charge exchange and decay processes in the terminal as well as in the beam line are described. Energy and time-of-flight measurements show that different carbon cluster ions can be formed, accelerated and transported far away from the accelerator and arrive intact at the experimental site.