Preparation of different carbon stripper foils and application in beam diagnostics

Abstract

The production of carbon stripper foils that are mounted at different locations of the heavy-ion accelerator is an important task of the target laboratory, and the process for the preparation of carbon foils is constantly improved. Recently, we tested additional heat treatment of the carbon stripping foils following our standard procedure to reduce stress in the foils, since the performance and the durability of these stripping foils is a crucial factor for effective operation. We investigated the properties of foils produced some time ago and of foils freshly produced with the standard procedure, and foils treated thermally after the standard procedure. For the beam diagnostic department at GSI radiation resistant target materials for transverse ion beam profile measurement is an ongoing research topic. In that framework, the feasibility of Optical Transition Radiation (OTR) generation due to ion beam interaction with metal target for beam profile determination has been investigated. Here, carbon stripper foils are applied to enhance the OTR signal. The differently prepared foils were applied in many different experiments of the beam diagnostic department. We describe the performance of the foils during irradiation and compare the features of foils before and after irradiation.