Fundamental aspects of electron cyclotron resonance ion sources: From classical to large superconducting devices (invited)

Electron cyclotron resonance ion sources (ECRIS) of highly charged ions are widely used for many applications. Depending on the application, ECRIS now have to cope with new beam requirements: intense flux of medium charge sta tes and/or very high charge states are demanded by users. In addition, thes e sources have to be stable and reliable. These requirements lead to large volume/high magnetic field devices. Through a discussion of the main parame ters of an ECRIS, we deal with the present state of the art of ECRIS in thi s article. The evolution from "classical" sources to superconducting device s is presented. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0034-6748(00)5790 2-7].