Low energy beam transport design optimization for RIBs

There is no unique solution to a given beam transport problem. For radioactive ion beams (RIBs) at low energy, the preferred optics type is electrostatic, since at beam voltages (= energy - charge state) less than approximately 1 MV, electrostatic optics is more economical than magnetic. Also, electrostatic optics has desirable scaling characteristics. Even so, optics can be sparse with large apertures or closely-spaced short lenses with small aperture. Among the infinity of solutions, there is of course an optimum in terms of cost versus beam quality. This paper considers economics and higher order aberrations and gives strategies for finding such an optimum. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.