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Ion sources are devices that allow creating ion beams (e.g. argon ions) and to project them outside the device, for example to be further processed by a particle accelerator, or to irradiate materials or biological tissues etc.

The ions are usually created by a plasma inside a cavity filled with a noble gas maintained at low pressure inside the cavity.

So, the cavity cannot have a hole to let the ions get out, otherwise the vacuum would be destroyed. So, by what mean do the ions get out of the cavity?

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  • $\begingroup$ Use an electric potential and accelerate them into some absorbing, conducting, well-grounded surface? You would then, of course, have to deal with the resulting shower of secondary electrons ejected from the surface but it could mitigate the ion issue, at least temporarily. At some point you'd have such a large charge buildup that you'd probably need to worry about discharge and ablation... $\endgroup$
    – honeste_vivere
    Commented Aug 22, 2022 at 13:45

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Since you want to use the ions in an accelerator, the outside is vacuum or almost vacuum , so the small pressure and the electrostatic force throws them out.

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  • $\begingroup$ Ion sources are not always used in accelerators: they are often used to obtain special plating on metals, and also to irradiate biological tissues. Definitely not vacuum. $\endgroup$
    – MikeTeX
    Commented Aug 22, 2022 at 11:08

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