Ion beam deflection and ion source heat modeling for the advancement of electromagnetic isotope separation

EMIS technology has about a 10% efficiency for mass input to collection per pass through the machine. Current generations can only heat source material to 1000 °C, so molecular species are used for their higher vapor pressure which must later be chemically separated. This paper discusses the modeling effort which showed an advanced ion source design using induction heating was able to achieve 1751 °C when operating at 220 A, allowing for the separation of elemental nickel with a higher purity than previously available. Heat shielding was suggested in order to achieve desired temperatures with a lower operating current. It was also shown a system that automatically triggers electrostatic plates to deflect ion beam energies up to 41.2 keV when arcing events occur is possible in order to prevent contamination of isotopically pure material in the collection box. In order to prevent further contamination and loss of material by self-sputtering, it was also shown full deflection into a pool of gallium within the collector pocket can be achieved for ion beam energies up to 35 keV.