Space charge lenses are ion-optical devices that focus an ion beam by the intrinsic electric field of confined non-neutral plasmas, for example electron clouds. This was first proposed by Dennis Gabor in the year 1947 and is therefore also known as Gabor-lenses. Previous studies have shown the strong linear focusing forces of a confined electron plasma. In this paper, the first confinement of a pure proton plasma in a Gabor-lens will be discussed. The confinement of a positive space charge column provides either a linear de-focusing force for positively charged ion beams or a linear focusing force for negatively charged heavy ion beams. Very first results of proton confinements and their diagnostics will be presented. A special focus lies on the diagnosis of the proton density distribution, as well as the comparison between the behavior of the proton and electron clouds.

GL2000 Gabor-lens (GL)[1, 2] is a 2-m long device constructed and successfully operated at Goethe University. The confined electron column is much longer compared to previous constructed lenses and offers unique opportunity for investigation of electron cloud dynamics. Especially, kind of fingertip stopband structures were precisely measured in production diagram (operation function) in the year 2023 [2]. This fully reproducible behavior and dependence on a rest gas pressure left unexplained. For this purpose, a large scale multi-particles simulation PIC(particle-in-cell)-code was written in C++ and implemented on FUCHS-Cluster of the Goethe University. The main objective is to find an optimal operation parameter set for a stable operation of GLs, which is crucial for high energy hadron beam transport and focusing. Further topic will be investigation of possible longitudinal handling of bunched ion beams. The first simulation result will be presented and discussed.

The main challenge in the development of high intensity ion sources is, besides the space charge limited extraction, the available plasma density. Conventional plasma generators use e.g. arc discharge plasmas or RF generated plasmas. Preliminary tests are carried out on both types of plasma generators and plasma parameters are determined to create a basis for evaluation. A concept is being developed that combines the advantages of both types. This hybrid plasma generator will also be investigated in terms of plasma parameters in order to test a possible application for high intensity ion sources. Further the proposed plasma generator has the property that due to a permanently available low-density RF plasma a faster build-up of the highly dense arc discharge plasma may be achieved. The properties of the concept with regard to a fast plasma build-up time are being investigated in order to test a possible application for the fast pulsing of high intensity ion sources.