SOLID MATERIAL EVAPORATION INTO AN ELECTRON-CYCLOTRON-RESONANCE SOURCE BY LASER-ABLATION

In an effort to explore new methods of producing ion beams from solid materials, a laser-ablation technique for evaporating materials directly into an electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) ion source plasma was developed. A pulsed NdYaG laser with approximately 25 W average power and peak power density on the order of 10(7) W/cm2 has been used off-line to measure ablation rates of various materials as a function of peak laser power. The benefits anticipated from the successful demonstration of this technique include the ability to use very small quantities of materials efficiently, improved material efficiency of incorporation into the ECR plasma, and decoupling of the material evaporation process from the ECR source tuning operation. The results of these tests are reported herein and the design is described for incorporating such a system directly with the Argonne Tandem Linac Accelerator System Positive Ion Injector ECR (ATLAS PII-ECR) ion source.