Highly charged ion beams at eV kinetic energies

An experimental setup that furnishes slow highly charged ion beams is described. A 14.5 GHz CAPRICE electron cyclotron resonance ion source provides highly charged ions at a kinetic energy of 10 to 20 keV per charge. The kinetic energy is reduced in a deceleration system, which consists of two stages, each of which is built up by two electrostatic zoom lenses. The ion beam can be decelerated down to a kinetic energy of 1 eV/charge. Typical beam currents, measured at the experiment with an emittance of (20 π mm mrad) are about 100 pA, even for the highest measured charge states ( Ar 16+ ).