Electrostatic simulations and tests of the ion source at THe-Trap

The Tritium-Helium-Trap (THe-Trap) is a Penning-trap mass spectrometer dedicated to measure the mass ratio of tritium and helium-3 with a relative precision of 1E-11. The properties of the Penning-trap have to be understood very well, in order to reach this precision. Geometrical deviations from the ideal case cause higher-order components in the electrostatic potential. Extended simulations have been carried out with Comsol Multiphysics to investigate first, the dependence of the simulation results on the resolution chosen and then to quantify the higher-order terms. The simulations were successful and in good agreement with the experimental observations. It was also possible to simulate the image charge effect in agreement with the experimental value. Similar investigations have been performed to estimate the influence of the experimental setup on the magnetic field. The influence of ferromagnetic materials was determined reliably. The final part of this book is the characterization of the external Penning-ion source. Therefore, a new Faraday cup was designed and implemented. The new device is able to measure an ion beam from the Penning-ion source.