The high intensity proton injector for the international accelerator Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research located at GSI-Darmstadt in Germany consists of a pulsed 2.45 GHz microwave ion source, a Low Energy Beam Transport (LEBT), and an electrostatic chopper matching the proton beam to the radio frequency quadrupole. The ion source is based on electron cyclotron resonance plasma production and it has to provide a proton beam at 95 keV energy and up to 100 mA current. The LEBT system with two short solenoids each including two magnetic steerers will transport the proton beam into the compact proton linac, accelerating it to the energy of 68 MeV and serving as the injector of the upgraded heavy ion synchrotron (SIS18). This paper describes the commissioning of the proton injector including beam characterization measurements that have been done at CEA/Saclay in France and is currently at the final commissioning stage.

Source of light ions with high intensities The (SILHI) source has been producing proton beams since 1996. The first aim is to produce up to 100 mA cw beams at 95 keV for the injector of protons for high intensity demonstrator. This prototype is developed by a CEA/DSM–CNRS/IN2P3 collaboration for applications such as accelerator driven systems for nuclear waste transmutation, production of radioactive ion beams, or secondary particles. To measure installation reliability, continuous 5 day long runs have been performed. In October 1999, a 99.96% availability was achieved with a single short beam off and a 103 H uninterrupted beam. A new extraction system leads to lower beam losses and higher LEBT transparency. SILHI now produces a 95 keV–130 mA total beam with a proton fraction higher than 80%. Up to a 157 mA (247 mA/cm2) total cw beam has been extracted. The new EPICS control system, electromagnetic interference hardened devices and automatic control procedures now allow us to do longer runs. To analyze the reliability of these upgrades, a 4 week test was planned. In the framework of the International Fusion Material Irradiation Facility project CEA participation, 135 mA–95 kV deuteron pulsed beams were produced. Extraction simulations and recent SILHI results are also presented. In addition, a new test bench has been recently developed to analyze H− beam production.

In the framework of the IFMIF-EVEDA phase (International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility-Engineering Validation and Engineering Design Activities), the CEA-Saclay is in charged of the design and realization of the 140 mA cw deuteron source. The IFMIF EVEDA demonstrator will be installed in Japan in the next six years and will have to accelerate the deuteron beam up to 9 MeV. CEA will build the source and the low energy beam line (LEBT) and will test the cw high intensity deuteron production at Saclay. The SILHI source is an electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) source, operating at 2.45 GHz. In 2001, it produced more than 130 mA of deuteron beam in pulsed mode to minimize neutron production. Such a result pushes to develop a new ECR source based on the SILHI design and equipped with a specific extraction system. Several options of the accelerator column will be implemented in order to improve the reliability and the efficiency of the source. The IFMIF source and LEBT design will be reported.