Abstract
The U.S. Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) is an accelerator-based, pulsed neutron-scattering facility, currently in the process of ramping up neutron production. In order to insure that we will meet our operational commitments as well as provide for future facility upgrades with high reliability, we have developed an RF-driven, H- ion source based on a ceramic aluminum nitride (AlN) plasma chamber [1]. This source is expected to be utilized by the SNS for neutron production starting in 2009. This report details the design of the production source which features an AlN plasma chamber, 2-layer external antenna, cooled-multicusp magnet array, Cs2CrO4 cesium system and a Molybdenum plasma ignition gun. Performance of the production source both on the SNS accelerator and SNS test stand is reported. The source has also been designed to accommodate an elemental Cs system with an external reservoir which has demonstrated unanalyzed beam currents up to ~100mA (60Hz, 1ms) on the SNS ion source test stand.
