Test bench to commission a third ion source beam line and a newly designed extraction system.

The HIT (Heidelberg Ion Beam Therapy Center) is the first hospital-based treatment facility in Europe where patients can be irradiated with protons and carbon ions. Since the commissioning starting in 2006 two 14.5 GHz electron cyclotron resonance ion sources are routinely used to produce a variety of ion beams from protons up to oxygen. In the future a helium beam for regular patient treatment is requested, therefore a third ion source (Supernanogan source from PANTECHNIK S.A.) will be integrated. This third ECR source with a newly designed extraction system and a spectrometer line is installed at a test bench at HIT to commission and validate this section. Measurements with different extraction system setups will be presented to show the improvement of beam quality for helium, proton, and carbon beams. An outlook to the possible integration scheme of the new ion source into the production facility will be discussed.