Terminal ion source for an FN tandem

An RF discharge source assembly has been developed for use in the terminal of the FN tandem Van de Graaff accelerator at the Nuclear Physics Laboratory of the University of Washington. The primary motivation for developing the source was to provide a high intensity beam of 3H+ to produce 8B from the reaction 6Li(3He,n)8B. The design of the optics and the performance of the source are described here.