Development of a compact filament-discharge multi-cusp H − ion source

A 14 MeV medical cyclotron with the external ion source has been designed and is being constructed at China Institute of Atomic Energy. The H − ion will be accelerated by this machine and the proton beam will be extracted by carbon strippers in dual opposite direction. The compact multi-cusp H − ion source has been developed for the cyclotron. The 79.5 mm long ion source is 48 mm in diameter, which is consisting of a special shape filament, ten columns of permanent magnets providing a multi-cusp field, and a three-electrode extraction system. So far, the 3 mA/25 keV H − beam with an emittance of 0.3 π mm mrad has been obtained from the ion source. The paper gives the design details and the beam test results. Further experimental study is under way and an extracted beam of 5 mA is expected.