Status of the LPCTrap facility at GANIL

The LPCTrap is a device whose central element is a transparent Paul trap for the efficient trapping of low energy radioactive ions produced by the SPIRAL facility at GANIL. The installation comprises a linear RFQ cooler and buncher for the beam preparation, and a decay chamber where the Paul trap is located. The system has been tested with ions having mass-to-charge ratios ranging from 4 to 40. The first run with radioactive He-6(+) ions has demonstrated the overall performance of the system. In this contribution we describe the current status of the device, we present in particular the results of a numerical study carried out to determine the properties of the ion cloud inside the trap and provide updated values for the overall efficiency of the system. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.