Abstract
Transverse beam emittance is a crucial property of charged particle beams that describes their angular and spatial spread. It is a figure of merit frequently used to determine the quality of ion beams, the compatibility of an ion beam with a given beam transport system, and the ability to suppress neighboring isotopes at on-line mass separator facilities. Generally, a high-quality beam is characterized by a small emittance. In order to determine and improve the quality of ion beams used at the Holifield Radioactive Ion Beam Facility (HRIBF) for nuclear physics and nuclear astrophysics research, the emittances of the ion beams are measured at the off-line Ion Source Test Facilities. In this project, emittance analysis software was developed to perform various data processing tasks for noise reduction, to evaluate root-mean-square emittance, Twiss parameters, and area emittance of different beam fractions. The software also provides 2D and 3D graphical views of the emittance data, beam profiles, emittance contours, and RMS. Noise exclusion is essential for accurate determination of beam emittance values. A Self-Consistent, Unbiased Elliptical Exclusion (SCUBEEx) method is employed. Numerical data analysis techniques such as interpolation and nonlinear fitting are also incorporated into the software. The software will provide a simplified, fast tool for comprehensive emittance analysis. The main functions of the software package have been completed. In preliminary tests with experimental emittance data, the analysis results using the software were shown to be accurate.