Superconducting Magnets for High Performance ECR Ion Sources

Modern heavy ion accelerators require intense heavy ion beams with high charge state. Electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) sources are the primary tool for generating such beams, making them indispensable devices for heavy ion physics research. Remarkable performance advancements were obtained during the last decades. At present, state of the art “third generation” ECR ion sources are based on magnets built with NbTi conductor. However, future nuclear physics facilities will require significant improvement in beam intensity and quality, which can only be met by ECR sources operating at higher frequency and field. These fourth generation machines will need to incorporate a sophisticated sextupole magnet built with high performance Nb
₃
Sn or NbTi conductor. In this paper, we review the technical challenges and worldwide progress in developing high performance superconducting ECR ion sources, and discuss the development of both third and fourth generation ECR ion source magnets at IMP.