THC02
IAP/RAS, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
Modern advances in the field of linear accelerators make it possible to create facilities capable of accelerating proton and deuteron beams with currents up to several hundred mA, which, in turn, opens up broad prospects, for example, in the creation of neutron sources. As a rule, a separation system is used prior to the beam injection into the accelerator. In this case, an increase in the beam emittance and, often, noticeable current losses occur in the separation unit. Based on recent developments in the field of gasdynamic electron cyclotron resonance ion sources (ECRIS), a prototype source of a high-current pure proton beam is built and tested, capable of delivering through 2.8 mm extraction aperture more than 50 mA of pure protons (molecular fraction is less than 0.5%), thus eliminating the need to separate the beam. First measurements of beam characteristics are reported and the ways of upscaling of the current are discussed.
