Pulse shape of the ISOLDE radioactive ion beams

The 2.4 mu s proton pulses from the PS Booster are delivered to the ISOLDE targets at a low repetition rate (typically 0.4 Hz). However, the synchronously produced radioisotopes have partially lost this time structure due to the delay incurred by the mass transfer processes used in their conversion into an ion beam. Since the pulse shape of the ion bunches is a vital information for the target development and the experiments, new techniques have been developed to measure it. These methods as well as the mathematics used for calculating the production yield will be described in detail, The limits of the techniques are discussed and a set of examples are presented.