Highly charged heavy ion beams are widely used in several accelerator-based facilities to perform advanced research in nuclear physics, nuclear astrophysics as well as applied research. They also find application in the post-acceleration of radioactive beams, allowed by the so-called charge breeders employed in ISOL facilities like SPES at INFN-LNL, or for fundamental studies about nuclear decays in stellar like conditions, as expected in the PANDORA project. The common denominator of most of the abovementioned facilities is the employment of ECR ion sources, producing multiple ionizations in magnetically confined plasmas. INFN has been playing a leading role in the development and modelling of such devices for many years, proposing innovative experimental approaches to boost their performances and obtaining an unprecedented detailed numerical description of the physical processes underlying their operations. The different fields of application that took benefit from the above-mentioned activity will be described, together with a look at prospects.
10/12/2021