Design of the AISHa Ion source for hadrontherapy facilities

Different facilities for hadrontherapy have been built or designed in the recent past and Italy is present in the field either with synchrotron-based and with cyclotron-based facilities. For both types of accelerators the availability of high brightness multiply charged ion beams is essential and R&D efforts in this subject has already started within the frame of a collaboration between the Sicilian Authority and INFN. The construction of a new ECR ion source operating at 18 GHz, named AISHa, is under way.