Produção de microfeixes de íons de MeV com o uso de microcapilares de vidro

Abstract

The use of electrostatic or magnetic lenses is an efficient but expensive way to obtain microbeams of high energy ions. The mechanical confinement of ion beams through linear structures is an alternative way to produce microbeams. In this work, we have used tapered glass micro-capillaries with exit openings between 2 m and 118 m produced by controlled heating and stretching. Microbeams of heavy ions in the MeV energy range were produced at the 3 MV HVEE Tandetron accelerator at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul. The transmission and beam energy straggling of different microcapillaries inserted into a goniometer were measured using 1-1,5 MeV H+ beams. The best alignment condition was obtained inspecting the goniometer position which maximized the beam count at the initial energy and minimize broadening of the detected beam energy. For some capillaries there was only one position corresponding to a maximum transmission of the beam. In other cases, the alignment is lost gradually. The energy spectra in the maximum transmission condition had FWHM between 18 and 158 keV and the angular dispersion ranged between 0.2° and 1.6°. The best beam collimation was obtained with capillary tips with intermediate diameters between 3 μm e 17 μm. In order to evaluate the final beam, polycarbonate (PC) foils were exposed to different fluences (between 1014 e 1016 ions/cm2) of the produced microbeam (1 MeV H+ and 18 MeV Au7+). Markings were done on PC samples. In some cases the marks were not circular and appeared to be partially blocked. The increase of incident ions fluence in the sample results in the growth of the diameter of the produced markings. Profiles of the markings produced were evaluated. The FWHM was between 38 e 90 μm and the beam spread was between 0.15° and 0.20°. Experiments using a CCD camera to detect the microbeam were also performed.