Status of the LPCTrap facility at GANIL F. Duval a, * , A. Me ´ry a , G. Ban a , D. Durand a , X. Fle ´chard a , M. Labalme a , E. Lie ´nard a , F. Mauger a , O. Naviliat-Cuncic a , D. Rodrı ´guez-Rubiales b , J.C. Thomas c a LPC Caen, ENSICAEN, Universite ´ de Caen, CNRS/IN2P3, Caen, France b Departamento de Fı ´sica Applicada, Universidad de Huelva, Spain c GANIL, CEA/DSM-CNRS/IN2P3, Caen, France Available online 6 June 2008 Abstract The LPCTrap is a device whose central element is a transparent Paul trap for the efficient trapping of low energy radioactive ions produced by the SPIRAL facility at GANIL. The installation comprises a linear RFQ cooler and buncher for the beam preparation, and a decay chamber where the Paul trap is located. The system has been tested with ions having mass-to-charge ratios ranging from 4 to 40. The first run with radioactive 6 He + ions has demonstrated the overall performance of the system. In this contribution we describe the current status of the device, we present in particular the results of a numerical study carried out to determine the properties of the ion cloud inside the trap and provide updated values for the overall efficiency of the system. Ó 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. PACS: 29.27.Eg; 39.10.Rs; 37.10.Ty Keywords: Beam handling and transport; Ion cooling; Ion trapping 1. Introduction Ion and atom traps have found a wide range of applica- tions near radioactive ion beam facilities. These include measurements of ground state properties of exotic nuclei, like masses [1] and nuclear radii [2], as well as decay mea- surements motivated by nuclear spectroscopy [3] or by cor- relation measurements in the study of fundamental interactions [4,5]. The LPCTrap is a device operational since 2005 at the low energy exit, LIRAT [6], of the SPIRAL facility at GANIL. The two main components of the installation are a buffer-gas-filled linear Paul trap, to cool and bunch the low energy ion beams, and a transparent Paul trap to confine radioactive ions, surrounded by detectors to mea- sure decay products. These two components are connected by suitable optic elements. The 3D ion trap is the only Paul trap operational at a radioactive beam facility. Detailed descriptions of the components have previously been reported [7–9] along with earlier performances of the appa- ratus and results of cooling and trapping tests. The system was designed to manipulate and trap any ion produced at SPIRAL and in particular the lightest species. We shortly describe here the main parts of the appara- tus, we present the results of a numerical study of the ion cloud phase-space inside the transparent Paul trap and pro- vide updated values for the overall performance of the device. 2. The LIRAT beams The SPIRAL facility at GANIL provides a wide range of exotic nuclei and is particularly efficient for the produc- tion of noble gases [10]. At present, four radioactive ion beams are available at LIRAT with energies ranging from 10 to 30 keV and with an emittance of 80p mm mrad. Table 1 gives an overview of their intensities [11]. 0168-583X/$ - see front matter Ó 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.nimb.2008.05.078 * Corresponding author. E-mail address: duval@lpccaen.in2p3.fr (F. Duval). www.elsevier.com/locate/nimb Available online at www.sciencedirect.com Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 266 (2008) 4537–4541 NIM B Beam Interactions with Materials & Atoms