Lifetime improvement of slackened thin cluster carbon stripper foils by suppression of carbon buildup

We control the amount of carbon buildup on slackened thin cluster carbon stripper foils (less than 3.5 μg/cm2) by heating with a high-power infrared lamp during beam bombardment. Foil lifetime measurements were performed using 2.0±0.5 μA beams of 3.2 MeV Ne+ ions and quantified as the total charge/area before breakage. Lifetimes were obtained up to 1286 mC/cm2 at maximum and 1139 mC/cm2 on the average; these values are, respectively, approximately 51 times at maximum and 46 times on average greater than the best commercially available foils, when used unheated and unslackened.