A laser ion source for an electron beam ion trap

A laser ion source (LIS) was designed and built to load the Heidelberg electron beam ion trap (EBIT) with a pulsed beam of lowly charged ions from solid elements. Charge and time-of-flight measurements were carried out to test and optimize the performance of the ion source and to determine important operating parameters such as the velocity, mass and charge-state distributions of the generated ion beam and the plasma temperature. It was demonstrated that with each laser shot about 108 ions are injected into the ion trap. Copper ions were successfully loaded into the Heidelberg EBIT and ionized to a helium-like state. The unique design of the target holder assembly facilitates a target exchange during the operation of the EBIT, thereby offering higher flexibility and lower running costs than other ion sources. The LIS can be combined with an electron beam ion source, such as an EBIT, to generate a pulsed beam of highly charged ions with a variable repetition rate of up to 20 Hz.