The experience with an ion source for our atomic injector have been de
scribed. Ion beams with a current of 50 A, energy of 30 keV, and pulse
duration of 0.1 s are extracted from a rectangular plasma emitter wit
h dimensions 24X12 cm(2). The beams have small angular divergence. Geo
metrical focusing through the extraction system provides the size of t
he beam to less than 24 cm at a distance 4 m from the ion source. The
beam current density distribution has been measured by light emission.
The power supply can be operated in multibreakdown mode with time per
iods of 0.4-2 ms. The control and the operating functions of the power
supply are integrated into the computer. The data are transferred to
the computer through both fiber optic channels and cable channels. (C)
1996 American Institute of Physics.