2009 Volume 58 Issue 9 Pages 617-628
We have developed a method to produce microbeams of ions focused by tapered glass capillaries. Glass capillary introduced here has been used as glass pipette in biological experiments, which is low-cost and easily manufactured. The beams can transmit through the capillaries, even if the capillary axis is not exactly parallel to the beam direction (guiding effect). Because the beam can be reflected by a self-organized charge-up potential of the inner wall for keV-energy ions, and by a small angle scattering at the inner wall for MeV-energy ions. The capillary is about 5 cm long, whose inlet and outlet diameters are 0.8 mm and about 1μm, respectively. Due to the taper and the reflection inside the capillary, the transmitted beam is focused (focusing effect). We report on (1) focusing and guiding effects for highly charged ion beams with keV-energy based on the charge-up process of insulator (glass) surfaces, (2) focusing of MeV-energy proton or He ion beams with the glass capillaries with end windows for biological application of “cell surgery” involving selective inactivation or disruption of cellular structures with a spatial resolution of μm3. The other applications to elementary particle beams of muon and positron, which are used for material analysis, are also described.
