Search

Stable transmission of a sub-lm-sized Ar8+ beam of 64-104-keV energy through glass tandem optics was achieved. The optics consisted of a 4-electrode tapered capillary and a sub-lm-sized tapered capillary tip, arranged in series. To actively discharge the capillary, and thus obtain stable transmission, an electrode was applied with a mechanical relay closing at a 0.01-0.1Hz frequency. Transmitted beams were observed for tip outlets' diameters of 0.75 and 2.0 μm. When only a 4-electrode capillary was used, a beam density enhancement with a multiplicity of 14 times of the input beam density was achieved. A transmission efficiency up to 70% was observed with good reproducibility when the electrodes were biased with appropriate voltages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an effort to develop a flexible ion beam guiding scheme, the guiding capabilities of straight and curved Teflon tubes were tested with 8 keV Ar8+ ions. The tubes used were about 50 mm long and of 1 mm/2 mm inner and outer diameters. One was straight, and the others were bent with different radii of curvature corresponding to bending angles from 9.6deg to 26.7deg. Transmission of several tens of per cent of the injected beam was observed for the curved tubes, while transmission through the tilted straight tube vanished when the tilt was more than 7deg. This demonstrates the possibility of efficient ion beam guiding with flexible insulator tubes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]