DEVELOPMENT OF A Li + ALUMINOSILICATE ION SOURCE

To uniformly heat targets to electron-volt temperatures for the study of warm dense matter, one strategy is to deposit most of the ion energy at the peak of energy loss (dE/dx) with a low (E<5 MeV) kinetic energy beam and a thin target. Lower mass ions, such as lithium, have a peak dE/dx at a lower kinetic energy. Alumino-silicates sources of K and Cs have been used extensively in beam experiments, but there are additional challenges for the production of a high current and high-quality Li beam. There are tighter tolerances in preparing and sintering the Li aluminosilicate to the substrate to produce an emitter that gives uniform ion emission, sufficient current density and low beam emittance. Here we report recent progress on Li source studies.