INTEGRATION OF A THIRD ION SOURCE FOR HEAVY ION RADIOTHERAPY AT HIT

HIT is the first European hospital based facility for scanned proton and heavy ion radiotherapy. In 2009 the clinical operation started, since then more than 1000 patients were treated in the facility. In a 24/7 operation scheme two 14.5 GHz electron cyclotron resonance ion sources are routinely used to produce protons and carbon ions. In the near future a helium beam for regular patient treatment is requested. The modification of the low energy beam transport line (LEBT) for the integration of a third ion source into the production facility was done in winter 2011. For beam quality improvement with a smaller emittance at the same current we designed and tested a new extraction system at the testbench and equipped the source for protons and helium with this optimized system. This paper will present results of the LEBT modification and give an outlook to further enhancements at the HIT ion source testbench.