Electron Cyclotron Resonance Ion Sources for Highly-Charged Ion Beams

Electron Cyclotron Resonance (ECR) ion sources are used for several different applications. Primarily they are used for the production of highly-charged ion beams for nuclear physics experiments but they are also used, for example, in medical applications and radiation-hardness tests of space electronics. Strong requests have been made from the nuclear physics community towards obtaining higher beam intensities and new exotic, even radioactive, ion beams. Due to the requirements more powerful ECR ion sources and new methods for the beam production are needed. In order to meet the beam intensity requirements several superconducting ion sources have recently been built or are under construction in Asia, Europe and the USA. The development work towards improvements in ion beam quality and the production of metal ion beams is also playing a crucial role. In this article a general overview concerning the ECR ion sources, their future and beam production will be given.