The RHIC Polarized Source Upgrade

Abstract

The basic limitations on the high-intensity H - ion beam production were experimentally studied in charge-exchange collisions of the neutral atomic hydrogen beam in the Na- vapor jet ionizer cell. These studies are the part of the polarized source upgrade (to 10 mA peak current and 85% polarization) project for RHIC. In the source the atomic hydrogen beam of a 5-10 keV energy and total (equivalent) current up to 5 A is produced by neutralization of proton beam in pulsed hydrogen gas target. Formation of the proton beam (from the surface of the plasma emitter with a low transverse ion temperature ~0.2 eV) is produced by four-electrode spherical multi-aperture ion-optical system with geometrical focusing. The hydrogen atomic beam intensity up t o 1.0 A /cm 2 (equivalent) was obtained in the Na-jet ionizer aperture of a 2.0 cm diameter. At the first stage of the experiment H- beam with 36 mA current, 5 keV energy and ~1.0 cm·mrad normalized emittance was obtained using the flat grids and magnetic focusing. The experimental results of the high-intensity neutral hydrogen beam generation and studies of the charge-exchange polarization processes of this intense beam will be presented.