Try these Press Releases:   First Analyzed Beam   The Birth of VENUS   CERN Courier: VENUS reveals the future of heavy-ion sources   Publications:   Downloadable VENUS Papers

Welcome to the VENUS Project !

VENUS (Versatile ECR ion source for NUclear Science) is a next generation superconducting ECR ion source, designed to produce high current, high charge state ions for the 88-Inch Cyclotron at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. VENUS also serves as the prototype ion source for the RIA (Rare Isotope Accelerator) front end. 

The goal of the VENUS ECR ion source project as the RIA R&D injector is the production of  high current medium charge state uranium beams (e.g U^30-34+). On the other hand, as an injector ion source for the 88-Inch Cyclotron the design objective is the production of very high charge state beam (e.g U⁴⁸⁺, Xe⁴⁴⁺). To achieve those ambitious goals, the VENUS ECR ion source has been designed for optimum operation at 28 GHz.

VENUS started operation with 28 GHz microwave heating in 2004. Since then it has produced world record ion beam intensities.  For example, 2850 eμA of O⁶⁺, 200 eµA of U³³⁺or U³⁴⁺, and in respect to high charge state ions, 1 eµA of Ar¹⁸⁺, 270 eµA of Ar¹⁶⁺, 28  eµA of Xe³⁵⁺ and 4.9 eµA of U⁴⁷⁺ have been produced.

The magnetic confinement configuration consists of three superconducting axial coils and six superconducting radial coils in a sextupole configuration. The nominal design fields of the axial magnets are 4T at injection and 3T at extraction; the nominal radial design field strength at the plasma chamber wall is 2.2T, making VENUS the world most powerful ECR plasma confinement structure. 

Fig.1: Mechanical Layout of the VENUS ion source.
(click figure for enlarged picture)

Figure 1 shows the mechanical layout of the ion source. The plasma chamber is made out of a double-walled aluminum tube with water cooling-channels in between. Three or more off-axis microwave feeds as well as ovens and a biased disk are inserted from the injection spool. Also shown are the end walls of the iron shielding-yoke, which is designed to reduce the magnetic stray-field outside the yoke to <50 Gauss. 

Fig.2: Cutout drawing of the VENUS superconducting coil configuration.
(click figure for enlarged picture)

Figure 2 shows a cutout of the superconducting coil configuration of the 3rd generation ECR ion source, which is designed to generate magnetic fields considerably greater than those of any existing ECR ion source. The two outermost solenoids produce an axial magnetic mirror field, whose center strength can be lowered by a third, oppositely polarized solenoid. The sextupole field is generated by the six racetrack coils wound around a pole piece made of iron and aluminum.

Table 1: Design characteristics of the VENUS magnet structure.  

Characteristic field data - as calculated by the three-dimensional code TOSCA - are summarized in Table 1. The design and fabrication of the magnet structure is based on a collaborative effort between the 88-Inch cyclotron of the Nuclear Science Division and the Supercon Group in the Accelerator and Fusion Research Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.