Lifetime Measurements on Carbon Stripper Foils

Abstract

One of the most exciting recent developments in accelerator technology is the new breed of electrostatic accelerators. These machines have terminal potentials of 25 million volts and higher and are being built to accelerate intense beams of heavy ions. One such accelerator is now nearing completion at ORNL. A crucial component in these—as in any electrostatic accelerator—is a tiny bit of carbon in the form of a very thin foil. These foils, called stripper foils, are used to strip electrons from atoms so that they will be accelerated to high energy by the electrostatic potential. While carbon foils are not the only method of stripping electrons, they have a number of advantages over the alternative gas strippers. In particular, they produce higher charge states which are essential for providing the energetic ions required for heavy ion physics experiments. Because of the importance of stripper foils to the most efficient operation of the new ORNL accelerator, we are quite interested in their properties and in improving their performance.

Research sponsored by the Division of Basic Energy Sciences, U. S. Department of Energy under contract W-7405-eng-26 with the Union Carbide Corporation.