The design and operation of a beam line for transporting and charge-to
-mass selecting highly charged ions extracted from the National Instit
ute of Standards and Technology electron beam ion trap (EBIT) are desc
ribed. This beam line greatly extends the range of experiments possibl
e at this facility. Using the transport system, pure beams of low-ener
gy, highly charged ions up to Xe44+ have been produced with substantia
lly higher fluxes than previously reported from an EBIT source. Design
choices and computer modeling for the various components of the beam
line are explained in detail. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.