An Ion Beam Guidance Control Tool Proposal

A versatile tool for ion beam line up is proposed. This tool will be used at the CERN-ISOLDE facility in negative ion experiments. Apertures in the ion optics are used to guide the beam and traditionally the current is measured on the apertures in order to detect the presence of an ion beam. By slitting the aperture into four separate pieces, the aperture current can also be used to determine the direction of the misalignment and the size of the ion beam diameter. A 4-channel pico ammeter with optical LED indication of the ion beam position is suggested in an analog/digital hybrid design. The design utilizes two charge/current-to-digital chips in a microcontroller design.