Status of the SIS 18 Upgrade Program and Progress in Acceleration of Intermediate Charge State Heavy Ions

In order to reach the desired FAIR [1] intensities for heavy ions, SIS18 has to be operated with intermediate charge states [2,3]. Operation with intermediate charge state heavy ions at the intensity level of about 10 ions per cycle has never been demonstrated elsewhere and requires a dedicated upgrade program. Such an upgrade program dedicated to the goal of minimizing the ionization beam loss [4] and stabilizing the dynamic residual gas pressure has been defined in 2005. So far, a major part of this upgrade program has been realized and a significant increase of the accelerated number of intermediate charge state heavy ions could be reached.