Long-term Operation Experience with Two Ecr Ion Sources and Planned Extensions at Hit

The HIT (Heidelberg Ion Beam Therapy Center) is the first treatment facility at a hospital in Europe where patients can be treated 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. The operating time is 330 days per year, our experience after three years of continuous operation will be presented. In the future a helium beam for patient treatment is requested, therefore a third ion source will be integrated. This third ECR source with a newly designed extraction system and a spectrometer line will be installed at a testbench to commission and validate this section. Different test settings are foreseen to study helium operation as well as enhanced parameter sets for proton and carbon beams in combination with a modified beam transport line for higher transmission efficiency. An outlook to the possible integration scheme of the new ion source into the production facility will be discussed.