Development and investigation of a metal ion source for accelerators

The design and operation of a new spray-type metal ion source are described. The source is built around a plasma emitter containing metal ions and using a two-step glow discharge with double plasma compression. The necessary temperature of electrons in a discharge chamber is reached by distributing the discharge power without heating. The design of the discharge chamber is optimized. The first set of experimental data for the mass-and-charge composition of a beam generated by this source is presented.