Optimizing a microwave gas ion source for continuous-flow accelerator mass spectrometry

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2011. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of American Institute of Physics for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Review of Scientific Instruments 83 (2012): 02B304, doi:10.1063/1.3656408.A 2.45 GHz microwave ion source coupled with a magnesium charge exchange canal (CxC) has been successfully adapted to a large acceptance radiocarbon accelerator mass spectrometry system at the National Ocean Sciences AMS Facility (NOSAMS), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. CO2 samples from various preparation sources are injected into the source through a glass capillary at 370 µl/min. Routine system parameters are about 120 - 140 µA of negative 12C current after the CxC, leading to about 400 14C counts per second for a modern sample and implying a system efficiency of 0.2%. While these parameters already allow us to perform high quality AMS analyses on large samples, we are working on ways to improve the output of the ion source regarding emittance and efficiency. Modeling calculations suggest modifications in the extraction triode geometry, shape and size of the plasma chamber could improve emittance and hence ion transport efficiency. Results of experimental tests of these modifications are presented.This work has been supported by the US National Science Foundation through Cooperative Agreement OCE-0753487