The dual ion beam microprobe

A new experimental setup for dual ion microbeam irradiation and analysis of materials has been designed and
commissioned at the Ruđer Boˇskovi´c Institute (RBI). Ion beams in the MeV energy range are provided by two
tandem accelerators, a 1.0 MV Tandetron and a 6.0 MV EN tandem Van de Graaff. The dual microprobe end
station is primarily dedicated for the performance of experiments where one ion microbeam is used for the
irradiation, while the other ion microbeam is used for the analysis or ‘probing’ the in-situ changes induced during
the target irradiation. Likewise, both microbeams can be also used independently, for experiments involving
either ion beam characterization or ion beam irradiation techniques. The ion beam from the small tandem
accelerator is focused with a magnetic quadrupole triplet, which is more suitable for the high spatial resolution
work with light ions. The ion beam from the larger accelerator is focused by an electrostatic quadruplet that
enables easier focusing of heavy ions. Details of the experimental setup, its capabilities in terms of ion beam
irradiation and analysis techniques, as well as the first applications, are presented.