REXEBIS operation and developments

At REX-ISOLDE at CERN a unique combination of a Penning trap and an electron beam ion source for the bunching and charge breeding of radioactive ions prior to their acceleration has been put into operation. The task of REXEBIS is to increase the charge state of injected singly charged radioactive ions to a mass to charge ratio A/q<4.5. This enables an efficient acceleration in the following LINAC. Even without optimizing every part a total efficiency of up to 4% for Na ions including the efficiency of the trap and the accelerator could be achieved and the system has been operated reliable and stable for several weeks of beam time. For the EBIS alone the efficiency for the charge breeding in a single state has been determined to be around 10% for elements between Li and Sm and average ion currents of a few pA. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.