Tech-X, Boulder, Colorado
LBNL, Berkeley, California
Next-generation heavy-ion beam accelerators require a great variety of high charge state ion beams (from protons to uranium) with up to an order of magnitude higher intensity than demonstrated with conventional Electron Cyclotron Resonance (ECR) ion sources. Optimization of the ion beam production for each element is therefore required. Efficient loading of the material into the ECR plasma is one of the key elements for optimizing the ion beam production. High-fidelity simulations provide a means to understanding where along the interior walls the uncaptured metal atoms are deposited and, hence, how to optimize loading of the metal into the ECR plasma. We are currently extending the plasma simulation framework VORPAL with models to investigate effective loading of heavy metals into ECR ion sources via alternate mechanisms, including vapor loading, ion sputtering and laser ablation. Here we will present the models, simulation results of vapor loading and initial comparisons with experiments at the VENUS source at LBNL.
