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EBIT Design Tutorial

Basic operation

EBIT operates through the combination of a variety of technologies: cryogenics, high voltage, ultrahigh vacuum, and electromagnetics, among others. These are combined to form an artificial environment which can produce and sustain the highly charged ions in a tiny cylinder of space which is about as wide as a human hair and few cm long. Surrounding this tiny region are the support structures described in this tutorial. Briefly, they consist of a series of concentric cryogenic and vacuum shields imbedded with about a dozen electrodes and magnetic coils which guide and focus the intense electron beam that travels down the axis of the EBIT. The structure is packaged into a container which is about 1 meter high and a half-meter wide. Below is shown a cross-sectional view inside EBIT.

cross-sectional view of EBIT
Created October 8, 2009, Updated September 15, 2025
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