Evaluation of RF antenna lifetime after long-term operation of J-PARC ion source

Shibata, Takanori*; Ishida, Masaki*; Nammo, Kesao*; Ikegami, Kiyoshi*; Okoshi, Kiyonori; Shinto, Katsuhiro; Oguri, Hidetomo

Proceedings of 19th Annual Meeting of Particle Accelerator Society of Japan (Internet), p.863 - 867, 2023/01

Continuous operation duration of the J-PARC Radio Frequency (RF) ion source has been extended step by step these years for the goal to supply stable beam during the entire period of J-PARC user operation (around 7 months) each year. A 3651 hours (5 months) continuous ion source operation has been achieved from Nov. 2020 to Apr. 2021. As the lifetime of the ion source is mainly limited by failure on the RF antenna coil, detailed evaluation of the antenna surface condition is required to ensure the feasibility of the further extension of the operation time. In the present study, dimension measurements and SEM/EDS analyses were applied to understand the surface discoloration of the RF antenna. The discoloration after the long-term continuous operation is due to deposition of injected cesium (for H surface production process) and of stainless used steel (Fe, Cr, Ni) from the ion source components sputtered by plasma. The results show that the enamel coating of the RF antenna has not worn out in the long-term continuous operation for several months and, hence, extension of the ion source continuous operation duration can be extended.