The Electron String Ion Source (ESIS) is type of electron beam ion source working in a reflex mode under specific conditions [1]. The operation is based on step-by-step ionization of the ions by hitting with electrons of an electron string. ESIS is a complex facility and ion trap control system is its important part. It affects ion beam formation process and transfer to NICA HILAC. The version, which is under operation now is based on resistance divider. The new system is based on independent modules and could make operation process more flexible. The paper describes development of the ESIS ion trap control system electronics, its modifications and operation process.

The Krion-6T Electron string ion source (ESIS) is the main device for heavy ion production for the Nuclotron-based Ion Collider fAcility (NICA) injector. The ion source was created at Laboratory of High Energy Physics, Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR), and it has been used several times for heavy ion beams production at the Nuclotron injector. Recently, Ar13+ and Xe28+ ion beams produced with the Krion-6T ESIS have been accelerated in the Heavy Ion Linac (HILAC) Booster (booster synchrotron) Nuclotron session in framework of the 4th stage of commissioning of the NICA complex. Further development of the ion source requires the production of Xe32+–34+ and Bi35+–37+ ion beams and their multiple injection through RFQ-HILAC into Booster and Nuclotron. Currently, Xe28+ ion beams have been produced in the Krion-6T ESIS in a multipulse mode (up to ten pulses per series), extracted from the ion source with an interval of 100 ms between pulses. In the near future, the accumulation and electronic cooling of this series of the ion pulses in the Booster synchrotron is proposed. This should make it possible to increase the intensity of the ion beam in the Booster by an order of magnitude. The time of the acceleration cycle is the NICA complex is assumed to be 4–6 s. An approved technology for the injection of bismuth atoms into the Krion-6T ion source is reported; the first stand results of Bi37+ ion beams production are briefly presented and discussed.

Electron String Ion Source (ESIS) is a type of ion source, which is under development since 1994 [1], when the electron string phenomenon was first observed at VBLHEP JINR. ESIS is a sophisticated modification of Electron Beam Ion Source (EBIS) working in a reflex mode of operation under specific conditions, when emitted electrons are multiply used for electron impact ionization, being transformed to a new steady state of a hot magnetically compressed plasma, called an “electron string”. ESIS is a complex facility consisting of several systems: the superconducting solenoid, the cryogenic and vacuum systems, the electron gun, the electron reflector, the beam drift structure, the locking system, etc. To ensure the operation of these systems a special electronics and control systems developed by the engineers of the ESIS group are used. The article describes electron string ion sources measurement and control electronics and basic principles of their work.

Ionization of working species up to high charge states in Electron Beam/String Ion Sources (EBIS/ESIS) is provided by electron impact; a primary electron beam of a corresponding energy, compressed in a strong external solenoidal magnetic field, is produced by an immersed electron gun containing a thermionic electron emitter assembly as its key element. Control and monitoring of parameters in cathode assembly are provided by special electronics designed by the JINR NICA [1] accelerator division engineers. In this report we describe Electron String Ion Sources (ESIS) development short history and its main working principles as a basic start point. The designed new cathode assembly electronics development and production as well as its operational principles are described and discussed in some details.

In the framework of the NICA project for the development of an accelerator collider facility at the LHEP JINR, Dubna, the design and commissioning of two injectors are under way. The Heavy Ion Linear accelerator (HILAC) is intended to inject the gold ions into the superconducting synchrotron Booster and designed to accelerate particles with a charge-mass ratio Z/A >= 0.16 up to an energy of 3.2 MeV u(-1). HILAC in 2015 installed in the workplace in the hall of the injection facility. In 2018, a series of tests on HILAC commissioning had been done to measure the energy and estimate transmission of accelerated beams of the carbon ions from the laser ion source. The Light Ion Linear accelerator (LILAC) is intended for injection into the superconducting synchrotron Nuclotron the polarized deuterons and protons, as well as the light ions from LIS and is in the design stage for accelerating particles with a charge-mass ratio of Z/A >= 0.33 to 7 MeV/u. The stable beam intensity from LIS is strongly desirable for the tasks listed above. The article describes the use of the beams from a laser ion source based on an Nd:YAG laser in the injection facility and presents a method for solving the problem of beam instability due to uncontrolled emission caused by reflected radiation.

A joint team from the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) (Dubna, Russia) and Bevatech GmbH (Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany) has been developing a new light-ion linac LILac as part of the NICA project. The resonator design and the beam dynamics calculations are presented.

A new technique of distance learning of high school students in engineering disciplines in demand in modern experimental physics is presented. In the learning process, the student in practice solves a set of tasks that correspond to the real problems that arise when conducting modern physical research. For this purpose, an online engineering workshop was developed and implemented, including a modular type laboratory installation, with which it became possible to organize the implementation of various physical experiments using modern methods of a scientific experiment. Users can perform tasks remotely over the Internet, while simultaneously observing the actual process of the installation using a web camera, which provides a certain effect of presence.

Electron string ion source (ESIS) KRION-6T is one of the main parts of the NICA injection complex [1]. During the work on creation of a new ion source for the NICA/MPD project the new ion motion control system was developed, produced and successfully put into operation. Modules development process and operation results are described.

A source of polarized deuterons and protons (SPI) has been created as part of the experimental program on accelerated polarized beams at the Nuclotron superconducting synchrotron. The electrostatic accelerating tube has been replaced by an accelerator with spatially homogeneous quadrupole focusing (RFQ linac), and the power-supply system of the ion sources has been also replaced to work with the source of polarized ions on the preinjector of the LU-20 linear accelerator. This article presents the results of 52–54 experiments on the acceleration of polarized protons and light ions in the Nuclotron.

The type of the Electron String Ion Sources (ESIS) is considered to be the appropriate one to produce pulsed C(4+) and C(6+) ion beams for cancer therapy accelerators. In fact, the new test ESIS Krion-6T already now provides more than 10(10) C(4+) ions per pulse and about 5 × 10(9) C(6+) ions per pulse. Such ion sources could be suitable to apply at synchrotrons. It has also been found that Krion-6T can provide more than 10(11) C(6+) ions per second at the 100 Hz repetition rate, and the repetition rate can be increased at the same or larger ion output per second. This makes ESIS applicable at cyclotrons as well. ESIS can be also a suitable type of ion source to produce the (11)C radioactive ion beams. A specialized cryogenic cell was experimentally tested at the Krion-2M ESIS for pulse injection of gaseous species into the electron string. It has been shown in experiments with stable methane that the total conversion efficiency of methane molecules to C(4+) ions reached 5%÷10%. For cancer therapy with simultaneous irradiation and precise dose control (positron emission tomography) by means of (11)C, transporting to the tumor with the primary accelerated (11)C(4+) beam, this efficiency is preliminarily considered to be large enough to produce the (11)C(4+) beam from radioactive methane and to inject this beam into synchrotrons.